The Phoenix Wallet, which is popular among users, introduced long-awaited support for Lightning addresses with an update yesterday. Android users can now secure their own @phoenixwallet.me address and use it to receive payments conveniently and as often as they like via the Lightning network.
🧪 Phoenix now supports BIP-353 LN addresses
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To create your address (must have a channel):android: Settings > Experimental features
-ios: soon™
-server: ./phoenix-cli getlnaddress
Phoenix Wallet (@PhoenixWallet) July 11, 2024
Phoenix (android/ios/server) can all send to both BIP-353 and LNURL addresses-
Behind the scenes, these actually quite well-known addresses in "email format" are a novelty: BIP-353, a standard that is just a month old. In combination with the BOLT-12 standard, which has been supported by the Phoenix Wallet since last week, the new Lightning addresses offer a number of advantages over the current status quo.
But what is it all about? BIP-353, LNURL and BOLT-12 - it's easy to lose track of all these abstract abbreviations and wonder what the concrete differences and, above all, the advantages are.
BIP-353
With the title "DNS Payment Instructions", Bitcoin developer Matt Corallo already summarizes very well what his BIP is all about. It proposes a fairly simple standard for providing Bitcoin payment information such as ordinary Bitcoin addresses at DNS level. But what exactly does that mean?
What is DNA?
A question that could be the subject of entire books, we will summarize it very briefly in this article: The Domain Name System (DNS) is comparable to a telephone directory for the Internet. While end users only interact with readable domain names such as Blocktrainer.de, the Internet protocol actually requires IP addresses such as 78.47.8.241 in order to retrieve a new Blocktrainer article such as this one.
Remembering IP addresses would of course be rather impractical, which is why the DNS - like a kind of translator - assigns certain information to domain names that are uniform and available at all times. The only special feature of BIP-353 is that this "specific information" can also include a Bitcoin address, for example. To stick with the analogy, a Bitcoin address would be listed next to the telephone number in the local telephone directory.
BOLT-12
With the principle shown above, a simple DNS entry can now point directly to a BOLT-12 offer and be used by any compatible wallet. At no time does a web server need to be contacted, as would be necessary for a Blocktrainer article or the current LNURL standard, as all relevant information is already in the DNS entry!
As a reminder: unlike normal Bitcoin transactions, the sender of a payment in the Lightning Network must actively interact with the recipient. This is a fundamental feature that is essential for the security of Lightning payments or makes them possible in the first place.
For recurring payments, however, it is tedious if the recipient has to communicate manually with each sender - for each payment. With BOLT-12, this interactivity is automated directly within the Lightning network, so that the recipient only has to share a BOLT-12 offer once, which can then be reused as often as required.
Advantages of BIP-353
Similar to the current status quo LNURL, the previously widespread Lightning addresses rely on a web server that must provide the necessary payment details at all times.
The BIP-353 Lightning addresses are therefore the ideal complement to BOLT-12, as both standards do not require a dedicated web server. This brings with it a number of advantages that could be particularly relevant for adoption:
- BIP-353 Lightning addresses are easier to set up in comparison. A lower barrier to entry, both for companies and private users.
- Apart from the costs incurred for a domain anyway, BIP-353 addresses are almost free of charge compared to the operation of a web server.
- Resolution via DNS is also advantageous for the sender's privacy, as IP addresses no longer have to be disclosed to a web server and therefore to the recipient.
Only other user-friendly lightning wallets that support both BOLT-12 and BIP-353 are still missing for widespread adoption. The Phoenix wallet is now the starting signal and it will be interesting to see whether and how quickly other wallets will follow suit.
If you want to have a personal Lightning address with your own name and domain, you can enjoy the much simpler setup compared to LNURL addresses. Owners of their own domain can set up several addresses within minutes. Let's take a closer look at how this works.
To set up your own BIP-353 address, which can then be used with the latest version of the Phoenix Wallet, for example, you need the following:
- Control over your own domain.
- A DNS provider that supports DNSSEC (usually included).
- A BOLT-12 offer, for example from the Phoenix Wallet.
A TXT entry must now be added to your own domain. This may look slightly different depending on the provider, but essentially works the same everywhere.
A TXT entry consists of a name or "the part before the domain" and a value. For a BIP-353 Lightning address, this means
- Name: <name before the @>.user._bitcoin-payment
- Value: bitcoin:?lno=<BOLT-12 Offer>
As an example, the entry for the address sebastian@blocktrainer.de would look like this:
- Name: sebastian.user._bitcoin-payment
- Value: bitcoin:?lno=lno1zrxq8pjw7...
The distribution of an entry can take up to several hours. If everything has worked, wallets that support both BOLT-12 and BIP-353 should be able to send Lightning payments to the address. If desired, additional TXT entries can be created with other names, for example for friends or family.
Both BIP-353 and the LNURL approach can be used simultaneously with the same address, as wallets can simply fall back to the desired standard that is supported or preferred.
Note: DNSSEC must be activated, as wallets will otherwise reject the TXT entry for security reasons. With many providers, only a check mark needs to be set for this, with others a manual configuration may be necessary.
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