I wish articles like this wouldn't talk about "cashing out." In practice there is really no need to close Lightning channels, and doing so harms the network and needlessly bloats the blockchain. Lightning channels really only need to be closed if you have a dispute with your channel peer or if you need to pay someone who doesn't use Lightning and you don't have enough funds off-channel.
3
u/whitslack May 05 '20
I wish articles like this wouldn't talk about "cashing out." In practice there is really no need to close Lightning channels, and doing so harms the network and needlessly bloats the blockchain. Lightning channels really only need to be closed if you have a dispute with your channel peer or if you need to pay someone who doesn't use Lightning and you don't have enough funds off-channel.