Introducing Volt
Urbit-native Lightning arrives from the future! We’ve reimplemented Bitcoin’s Lightning Network from scratch, in Hoon. We call it Volt.
Any Bitcoiner knows transacting on the Lightning Network works best with your own node. But node operation is impractical, meaning most users end up making a compromise on sovereignty. Volt’s ambition is to boot a more decentralized Lightning Network on top of existing Urbit nodes.
This announcement follows up on our presentation at Urbit Assembly in Lisbon. Watch the full talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPDw5Cfdl78
Download Today
Volt is ready for you to test out, and integrate into your Urbit app.
Download the desk here: https://github.com/cyclomancer/volt
Technically speaking, Volt implements LN BOLTs 2, 3, 5, 10, and 11. Open and operate payment channels with other Urbit ships, manage liquidity, and much more. We use LND to bridge payments outside the Urbit network. (Mars networking is superior to Earth networking.)
Urbitcoin Futures
Instant, cheap payments unlock many use-cases for Urbit. In the near term, we’re looking forward to building Bitcoin paywalls for Studio, microtransactions on Trill, and Bitcoin betting on Alphabet.
Long term, Urbit-native payments network will make Urbit providers easier to operate and monetize. Stay tuned for integration updates.