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I have some questions about the cost of maintaining a lightning channel between two people. For this question, let's assume that the blockchain mining fee is $1 per transaction.
Question 1: Suppose Alice wants to send Bob 1 mBTC per day, for 100 days. Without lightning, this would have cost $100. With lightning, she has to open a channel to Bob, and after 100 days, close the channel. Is it true that opening the channel and closing the channel each costs $1, so that the total cost is $2?
Question 2: Suppose Alice wants to send Bob 1 mBTC per day, for 200 days, but, she does not have all 200 mBTC now - she only has 100 mBTC (she will get the additional 100 mBTC after 100 days). So, she has to open a channel to Bob, after 100 days close the channel, open a new channel, and after additional 100 days, close the second channel. Is it true that the total cost now is $4?
Question 3: Suppose Alice from question 2 wants to reduce the cost of channel restart, so she says to Bob: "Instead of closing and re-opening the channel, I'll send you 100 mBTC through the blockchain, and you will send me 100 mBTC through the lightning channel. So the restart will only cost us $1 and the total cost will be only $3". Can this trick be done securely, so that neither Alice nor Bob can cheat?
Can you elaborate on "negative fee"? – Richard Ginsberg – 2017-07-13T18:41:15.607
@Richard, it sounds crazy, but it means the channel paying someone for their traffic. Let's say Dave wants to pay Charlie 50 mBTC. The Alice-Bob channel's current state (if they were to close it now) has 10 mBtc owned by Alice, and 90 mBtc owned by Bob. If Alice still has 30 mBTC she wants to pay to Bob, they may agree to cover part of Dave's payment, just so he'll use their channel. Dave now pays 49 mBTC, Charlie receives 50 mBTC, and the channel is now split Alice-60, Bob-40. The difference likely came from Alice's channel with Charlie, and Alice can now finish paying Bob. – Jestin – 2017-07-13T18:51:04.303