Preface
I answered a question about my attitude toward TON, after which a TON expert came to my chat and shared a lot of juicy details. Then a Lightning Network expert appeared in the chat and explained why TON is not needed. I followed his recommendations and convinced myself that it is already possible to send bitcoins to each other in Telegram instantly and with negligible fees. I think this new knowledge deserves a detailed instruction, because theoretically many people are familiar with Lightning, but in practice, few understand how to actually use it. I will provide the simplest recipe based on Telegram, simply because it is the most relevant for me.
1. Buying bitcoins
The simplest way to buy bitcoins with fiat is using a Telegram bot. I have left a referral link, so not only can I get a small profit from you using it, but I will also know how many readers found it useful. By launching the bot, you become the owner of an empty online wallet, which is where you will buy your bitcoins.
By clicking “BTC/RUB Exchange,” you will see the current exchange rate. This is only a rough guide; the rate in the bot may differ significantly. Click “Buy” and you will enter a board of private ads, grouped by types of bank cards or other electronic fiat money.
Suppose you have a Sberbank card. Click the corresponding button and you will see a list of ads for selling bitcoins:
Choose a suitable ad, click on it, start the transaction, and specify the amount in rubles you intend to purchase. If the advertiser agrees to your offer, you need to transfer the money to the specified card, after which bitcoins will be credited to your wallet in the bot.
Important: all communication with the seller is conducted only inside the bot, because its administration provides arbitration in case the deal falls through. The seller’s bitcoins are blocked on their account until they receive your rubles. As soon as they arrive, the seller releases the bitcoins, and they are transferred to you.
2. Opening a payment channel
The Lightning Network technology boils down to people opening payment channels (something like off-chain deposits) for a certain amount, then exchanging receipts, and later, when someone decides to close the channel, a netting occurs, and the remaining balance in the channel is returned to the blockchain. There is quite a complex mechanism inside, but it’s not necessary to delve into it; I don’t delve into it myself.
To open a channel, you need a lightning node, and since maintaining one yourself is a hassle, it’s easier to use a public service. I was recommended the exchanger https://zigzag.io. Open it, select bitcoins in the “you send” field, and also bitcoins in the “you get” field, but with a lightning bolt on the avatar:
Then you need to specify the address to return the change to (the “BTC refund address” field) and where, specifically, to send the money (the “BTC lightning invoice” field). For the change, you can specify the same wallet from which you are sending the money, or any other one you have.
To find the destination wallet, you need to launch the @lntxbot in Telegram. Then send a private message to the bot:
/invoice
and it will generate a string of gibberish:
Copy it and paste it into the “BTC lightning invoice” field, click “Exchange” — and you will see something like this:
Simultaneously, a message about the receipt of funds will come from the bot to your private messages:
That’s it, you have opened a payment channel.
3. Using lightning
The most important command that you will need in @lntxbot after this looks like this:
/pay
After this, I receive the amount you have chosen. Of course, you can easily transfer money to any other Telegram user (even if they haven’t launched the bot themselves, the money will go to them, and they will see it only after they launch it).
You can ask the bot about other commands using the /help command
4. Closing the payment channel
So, you have some money left in the lightning network, and instead of sending it to me, you decide for some reason to withdraw this balance back to the blockchain. Go to Zigzag and perform the reverse operation:
Specify the same bitcoin address on both the left and right sides, click “exchange,” and now the exchanger will generate an invoice for you. Then go to the private messages of @lntxbot and write:
/pay
That’s it, the payment channel is closed, and the money not spent in the lightning network returns to your wallet. As for dealing with bitcoin wallets, entire volumes have been written on that; you’ll figure it out yourself.
I’ll be glad if the article was useful to you. Be sure to try how it works. If previously a large commission size stopped you from donating to certain causes, making small tips unjustifiably expensive, you can now make people happy without such torment. First, deposit a sum into lightning that is sufficiently large relative to the miners’ commission, and then spend it in arbitrarily small portions whenever it strikes you. It is the large volume of small donations that distinguishes truly popular projects, not a couple of dozen large donations.
Allow yourself this pleasure — to be patrons.