Replying to Avatar Super Testnet

> Should be easy since my Monero address is on my profile.

The ones on the blockchain aren't the same as the one in your profile. Nonetheless, it's better to (1) not publish them (2) encrypt them so that fewer people can see them. You know, like lightning does.

> Lightning nodes on a route (aka third parties) can see exact amounts passing through them. Nodes on Monero can't.

In both cases they get partial amount information. Monero leaves the fee unencrypted and in fact publishes it for all to see, and this is one of the tools chain analysts use to fingerprint what type of wallet you're using. Lightning does not publish the amount info, the routing nodes only get a lower bound on the amount sent; they don't know the full amount because they don't know if a multipath payment was used, and they also don't know the total fee paid because that's encrypted -- each routing node only knows how much you paid *them.*

> most LN payments are routed through a handful of large hubs

...he said, with no evidence

> ~90% of Lightning users don't enjoy almost any of the privacy benefits you lay out because they're using things like Wallet of Satoshi or Strike that see everything

Wallet of Satoshi and Strike don't see everything. Here's two critical details they're in the dark about: (1) they don't know what address the recipient receives the money into (neither the channel nor the htlc), because lightning invoices do not tell you that. (2) They don't know if the person who looks like the recipient is really the recipient or not (it might be a trampoline payment and they have no way to tell). Not even the sender knows that.

> Monero is better UX for privacy and it's by default

Monero has worse privacy under its slick UX and some LN wallets have better UX anyway.

I have a challenge for you. lnbc10641910p1p5pr6klpp5refgj5cv3k0zajlcz8hztfz4sezcv9e7hfwkv2z99m0p2mwx64dqhp5uwcvgs5clswpfxhm7nyfjmaeysn6us0yvjdexn9yjkv3k7zjhp2scqzdyxqyjwf3sp55u5qqhs88t5e5ag0d6gvacjkhfk5l7jdxc6usewu4xy8tp7y8xss9qxpqysgq0tcz422qrphc27m6xukk4xgjaawgp5ae003805wr9g3n4jrhp3hypd5tn2qj4smrc43fcfyjwlvpms0ydcjl7wchdpy2q4rst46e6ygp2vaqna

Pay this $1 lightning invoice and I will send you $1 in xmr to an xmr "public address" of your choice. We'll see which of us learns more info about where the money ends up. Are you up to the challenge?

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

I will tell you:

- what address the monero went into

- how much xmr is in that address in total

You tell me:

- what channel or htlc the bitcoin went into

- how much btc is in that address in total

Deal?

Why would I agree to that lol?

You gave me the most difficult things to find and gave yourself what you know you can find (which I never denied, you wouldn't be a third party if you're making a transaction with me, so you can see the stealth adress you're sending to)

I also have no doubt that you use Lightning privately and didn't contend that. You're Super Testnet the LN wizard. I said the average user is hanging with custodians and LSPs that can see a lot more than the best case scenario you were painting.

But I will send you $1 for fun because I enjoy our frenemy discussions

The xmr ended up in this address: a77230221a6a44387c6ee10b68bfa38c476d254d6a353a0c73b6c4bbbdc1cfec

The total amount of xmr in that address is: 0.003663250868

Your turn! What channel or htlc did your payment end up in? How much btc in total is in that address?

First I want to preface by saying I never denied you could give me the info you did from a Monero transaction (you're obviously not a third party if you're making a transaction with me), nor did I claim I could give you any of the info you cherrypicked for me to give you.

But that being said just for fun this is what I could find from the invoice:

Network: bitcoin mainnet

Amount: 0.00001054 BTC

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:10:30 GMT

Payment Secret: 0c92761048337708ab93e6b8b284d926e5aec53bd7d074b8973920b91f3d4874

Payment Hash: b4db7a1b19961d115b39bfdf8a17de7459f121708265f2c2273d67287372a8fb

Description Hash: r59andxz6kzyrxtwv76xw32q2prawep07ydyph96gleyt7nqj29q

Expiration Time: 2592000 seconds

Min Final CLTV Expiry: 19

Routing Info

Public Key: 02e1dad4d396696cb207a524bdf595f1a2e6792d7b990f18cef1ebd1b557bb110f

Short Channel Id: 0d67030009bc0000

Fee Base Msat: 0

Fee Proportional Millimonths: 2999

CLTV Expiry Delta: 34

Feature Bits: 000010000000100100000100000000

Signature

R value: d4fd6e70ad921daf2aa31dce282cbdad7177d696f1ef87c4b043229e9325e4c1

S value: 4c10f860c8ec20dab8dfef12f8fd91fd2c0c9941a102ba89b6ced2605782e8c2

Recovery Flag: 0

Signing Data: 6c6e626331303534306e0d023ee2d00d03249d84120cddc22ae4f9ae2ca13649b96bb14ef5f41d2e25ce482e47cf521d0021a5a6dbd0d8ccb0e88ad9cdfefc50bef3a2cf890b84132f961139eb39439b9547d85c341d0bd9b4c2d58441996e67b46745405047d7642ff11a40dcba47f245fa60928a0300a278d00c003318a405c3b5a9a72cd2d9640f4a497beb2be345ccf25af7321e319de3d7a36aaf76221e1ace060013780000000000000000176e0044140608090400

Checksum: q7zqwk

Great info! The most interesting part to me is the routing info. The first hop in your path was a node whose pubkey is 02e1...110f. This belongs to a nostr user whose handle is UNITEDPLOW: https://njump.me/npub17y4ykazexey6mhyk33lxapycpfsmcwxpwjfw8cxw739g2r5c39hsrmudwx

You even got his short channel id, which you can use to find your channel with him on the blockchain.

Fortunately for me, onion routing (and recipient encryption) led you to a dead end! My money is not in his channel. He's just a routing node. You know *a* channel -- one you created (or a custodian created it, if you're using a custodian) -- just not the one with my money in it.

The rest of your routing info doesn't tell you much about what happened next. Does UnitedPlow have a direct channel to me? Maybe! Did it go through five more hops? Maybe! Was he a trampoline node, a decoy this whole time? Maybe!

You'll never know where the money ended up because lightning hides that info from the sender through multiple indecipherable layers of encryption. Unlike monero, which told me in plaintext. Lightning "receiver privacy" is simply designed better.

THIS IS THE FUCKING CONTENT WE CAME HERE FOR. πŸ€™

nostr:nprofile1qqs27aqdrx96hwx8hqks53ccav65hvlk47dfscumsh22tncnw89t4pgpzamhxue69uhkvet9v3ejumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0m89maa

"Lightning "receiver privacy" is simply designed better."

For the 5% who use it correctly, like you, sure you can make that argument (though there is a lot of nuance in each ones privacy as a whole and how it's used realistically)

Most users that would otherwise be fully exposed to wallets like WoS and Strike are better off using Monero or even ecash (if they accept the rug risk)

What do you think about wallets like phoenix and Zeus?

Do they have better or worse privacy protection in standard settings than monero?

Zeus is probably my favorite LN wallet for sure. It has a lot of privacy features other LN wallets like Phoenix lack.

Alby is self custodial

Oh i see the year....2023. a lot has changed since then.

Yea we need an updated chart

I like Zeus for sure, but I've found it too complicated for onboarding newbs. For me it's like a "power user lite" wallet

Working on it! A lot of focus on entry level users is going into v1.0.

The idea is to be able to start the user off with a simple to use wallet and level them up as they go.

I love the idea, UX and on boarding must be top notch to have a chance of more adoption but you should never give up on the advanced features that make Zeus the best. Including educational content with gamification like achievement that bring you to try more advanced features step by step while getting educated about Bitcoin self-custody.

I need an updated versions of this chart. Idk if anything has changed tho.

Zeus has point of sale functionality as well, that’s a nice touch.

Excellent analysis πŸ™ƒ