From 8a99dea167b6d965c7dccafd8448bc945d52900d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Schmidt Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:39:13 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 1/7] Newsletters: add 389 (2026-01-23) --- .../en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 46 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 46 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..17d6ada1c --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +--- +title: 'Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #389' +permalink: /en/newsletters/2026/01/23/ +name: 2026-01-23-newsletter +slug: 2026-01-23-newsletter +type: newsletter +layout: newsletter +lang: en +--- +FIXME:bitschmidty + +## News + +FIXME:bitschmidty + +## Changes to services and client software + +*In this monthly feature, we highlight interesting updates to Bitcoin +wallets and services.* + +FIXME:bitschmidty + +## Releases and release candidates + +_New releases and release candidates for popular Bitcoin infrastructure +projects. Please consider upgrading to new releases or helping to test +release candidates._ + +FIXME:Gustavojfe + +## Notable code and documentation changes + +_Notable recent changes in [Bitcoin Core][bitcoin core repo], [Core +Lightning][core lightning repo], [Eclair][eclair repo], [LDK][ldk repo], +[LND][lnd repo], [libsecp256k1][libsecp256k1 repo], [Hardware Wallet +Interface (HWI)][hwi repo], [Rust Bitcoin][rust bitcoin repo], [BTCPay +Server][btcpay server repo], [BDK][bdk repo], [Bitcoin Improvement +Proposals (BIPs)][bips repo], [Lightning BOLTs][bolts repo], +[Lightning BLIPs][blips repo], [Bitcoin Inquisition][bitcoin inquisition +repo], and [BINANAs][binana repo]._ + +FIXME:Gustavojfe + +{% include snippets/recap-ad.md when="2026-01-27 17:30" %} +{% include references.md %} +{% include linkers/issues.md v=2 issues="" %} From 5f9b57a000258171e0f161a3edf38b2608ed85e5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: TumaBitcoiner Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:54:44 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 2/7] Added Pickhardt item. --- .../en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 35 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+) diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md index 17d6ada1c..71f1b360b 100644 --- a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -11,6 +11,34 @@ FIXME:bitschmidty ## News +- **A mathematical theory of payment channel networks**: René Pickhardt [posted][channels post] + about the publication of his new [paper][channels paper] called "A Mathematical Theory of + Payment Channel Network". In the paper, Pickhardt groups several observations, gathered + during years of research, under a single geometric framework. In particular, the paper aims to + analyze common phenomena, such as channel depletion and capital innefficiencies of two-party + channels, assessing how they are inter-connected and why they are true. + + The main paper contributions are the following: + + - A model for feasible wealth distributions of users on the lightning network + given a channel graph; + - A formular for estimating the upper bound of payment bandwidth for payments; + - A method to estimate the likelihood that a payment is feasible (see + [Newsletter #309][news309 feasibility]); + - An analysis on different [mitigation strategies][mitigation post] for channel depletion. + - The conclusion that two-party channels put strong constraints to the ability of liquidity to + flow between peers of the network. + + + According to Pickhardt, the insights coming from his research were the motivation behind his + recent post about using Ark as a channel factory (see [Newsletter #387][new387 ark]). + Pickhardt also provided his [collection][pickhardt gh] of code, notebooks, and papers that + were used as groundwork for his research. + + Finally, Pickhardt opened the discussion on his work to questions and feedback from the LN + developer community on how the protocol design could be influenced by his research and on + the best use for multi-party channels. + FIXME:bitschmidty ## Changes to services and client software @@ -44,3 +72,10 @@ FIXME:Gustavojfe {% include snippets/recap-ad.md when="2026-01-27 17:30" %} {% include references.md %} {% include linkers/issues.md v=2 issues="" %} + +[channels post]: https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/a-mathematical-theory-of-payment-channel-networks/2204 +[channels paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.04835 +[news309 feasibility]: /en/newsletters/2024/06/28/#estimating-the-likelihood-that-an-ln-payment-is-feasible +[mitigation post]: https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/mitigating-channel-depletion-in-the-lightning-network-a-survey-of-potential-solutions/1640/1 +[new387 ark]: /en/newsletters/2026/01/09/#using-ark-as-a-channel-factory +[pickhardt gh]: https://github.com/renepickhardt/Lightning-Network-Limitations \ No newline at end of file From 1a34734ee54e4a5afe248c264e004574046cfcdb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Schmidt Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 09:28:11 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 3/7] Update _posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md to fix the build --- _posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 1 - 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md index 71f1b360b..8af9801da 100644 --- a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ FIXME:bitschmidty channels, assessing how they are inter-connected and why they are true. The main paper contributions are the following: - - A model for feasible wealth distributions of users on the lightning network given a channel graph; - A formular for estimating the upper bound of payment bandwidth for payments; From ae57e9b15fec2f028a1edc5bf5232f4604584f09 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Schmidt Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:49:27 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 4/7] News389: fixup payment channel news item spacing, formatting --- .../en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 55 ++++++++++--------- 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-) diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md index 8af9801da..307a3a90f 100644 --- a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -12,31 +12,36 @@ FIXME:bitschmidty ## News - **A mathematical theory of payment channel networks**: René Pickhardt [posted][channels post] - about the publication of his new [paper][channels paper] called "A Mathematical Theory of - Payment Channel Network". In the paper, Pickhardt groups several observations, gathered - during years of research, under a single geometric framework. In particular, the paper aims to - analyze common phenomena, such as channel depletion and capital innefficiencies of two-party - channels, assessing how they are inter-connected and why they are true. - - The main paper contributions are the following: - - A model for feasible wealth distributions of users on the lightning network - given a channel graph; - - A formular for estimating the upper bound of payment bandwidth for payments; - - A method to estimate the likelihood that a payment is feasible (see - [Newsletter #309][news309 feasibility]); - - An analysis on different [mitigation strategies][mitigation post] for channel depletion. - - The conclusion that two-party channels put strong constraints to the ability of liquidity to - flow between peers of the network. - - - According to Pickhardt, the insights coming from his research were the motivation behind his - recent post about using Ark as a channel factory (see [Newsletter #387][new387 ark]). - Pickhardt also provided his [collection][pickhardt gh] of code, notebooks, and papers that - were used as groundwork for his research. - - Finally, Pickhardt opened the discussion on his work to questions and feedback from the LN - developer community on how the protocol design could be influenced by his research and on - the best use for multi-party channels. + about the publication of his new [paper][channels paper] called "A Mathematical Theory of + Payment Channel Network". In the paper, Pickhardt groups several observations, gathered + during years of research, under a single geometric framework. In particular, the paper aims to + analyze common phenomena, such as channel depletion and capital innefficiencies of two-party + channels, assessing how they are inter-connected and why they are true. + + The main paper contributions are the following: + + - A model for feasible wealth distributions of users on the lightning network + given a channel graph; + + - A formular for estimating the upper bound of payment bandwidth for payments; + + - A method to estimate the likelihood that a payment is feasible (see + [Newsletter #309][news309 feasibility]); + + - An analysis on different + [mitigation strategies][mitigation post] for channel depletion. + + - The conclusion that two-party channels put strong constraints to the ability of liquidity to + flow between peers of the network. + + According to Pickhardt, the insights coming from his research were the motivation behind his + recent post about using Ark as a channel factory (see [Newsletter #387][new387 ark]). + Pickhardt also provided his [collection][pickhardt gh] of code, notebooks, and papers that + were used as groundwork for his research. + + Finally, Pickhardt opened the discussion on his work to questions and feedback from the LN + developer community on how the protocol design could be influenced by his research and on + the best use for multi-party channels. FIXME:bitschmidty From 9324989d46848ca61a6318371e2406c14f02ab91 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Schmidt Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 11:20:54 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 5/7] News389: add client services segment --- _posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 18 ++++++++++++++++-- _topics/en/silent-payments.md | 3 +++ 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md index 307a3a90f..63d99828d 100644 --- a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -50,7 +50,17 @@ FIXME:bitschmidty *In this monthly feature, we highlight interesting updates to Bitcoin wallets and services.* -FIXME:bitschmidty +- **Experimental Electrum server for testing silent payments:** + [Frigate Electrum Server][frigate gh] implements the [remote scanner][bip352 + remote scanner] service from [BIP352][] to provide [silent payment][topic + silent payments] scanning for client applications. The proof of concept also + uses modern GPU computation to decrease scanning time which is useful for + providing multi-user instances that handle many simultaneous scanning requests. + +- **BDK WASM library:** + The [bdk-wasm][bdk-wasm gh] library, originally developed and [used][metamask + blog] by the MetaMask organization, provides access to BDK features in + environments that support WebAssembly (WASM). ## Releases and release candidates @@ -82,4 +92,8 @@ FIXME:Gustavojfe [news309 feasibility]: /en/newsletters/2024/06/28/#estimating-the-likelihood-that-an-ln-payment-is-feasible [mitigation post]: https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/mitigating-channel-depletion-in-the-lightning-network-a-survey-of-potential-solutions/1640/1 [new387 ark]: /en/newsletters/2026/01/09/#using-ark-as-a-channel-factory -[pickhardt gh]: https://github.com/renepickhardt/Lightning-Network-Limitations \ No newline at end of file +[pickhardt gh]: https://github.com/renepickhardt/Lightning-Network-Limitations +[frigate gh]: https://github.com/sparrowwallet/frigate +[bip352 remote scanner]: https://github.com/silent-payments/BIP0352-index-server-specification/blob/main/README.md#remote-scanner-ephemeral +[bdk-wasm gh]: https://github.com/bitcoindevkit/bdk-wasm +[metamask blog]: https://metamask.io/news/bitcoin-on-metamask-btc-wallet diff --git a/_topics/en/silent-payments.md b/_topics/en/silent-payments.md index 9f465613b..2800fca5a 100644 --- a/_topics/en/silent-payments.md +++ b/_topics/en/silent-payments.md @@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ optech_mentions: - title: "Draft BIP for silent payment descriptors" url: /en/newsletters/2026/01/09/#draft-bip-for-silent-payment-descriptors + - title: "Experimental Electrum server for testing silent payments" + url: /en/newsletters/2026/01/23/#experimental-electrum-server-for-testing-silent-payments + ## Optional. Same format as "primary_sources" above see_also: - title: Output linking From 25586c8d1b7221b2cbc5833a36661fa74e3034a6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Schmidt Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 11:25:42 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 6/7] News389: add lede --- _posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 7 ++++--- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md index 63d99828d..912e6fdff 100644 --- a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ type: newsletter layout: newsletter lang: en --- -FIXME:bitschmidty +This week's newsletter links to a paper on the study of payment channel networks. +Also included are our regular sections describing recent updates to services and +client software, announcing new releases and release candidates, and summarizing +notable changes to popular Bitcoin infrastructure software. ## News @@ -43,8 +46,6 @@ FIXME:bitschmidty developer community on how the protocol design could be influenced by his research and on the best use for multi-party channels. -FIXME:bitschmidty - ## Changes to services and client software *In this monthly feature, we highlight interesting updates to Bitcoin From 22bafc3d7fdd637e3492d017995d5b85baf94d92 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Gustavojfe <106698848+Gustavojfe@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 07:22:29 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 7/7] add merge summaries and releases --- .../en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md | 96 ++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 93 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md index 912e6fdff..5fa4593c7 100644 --- a/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md +++ b/_posts/en/newsletters/2026-01-23-newsletter.md @@ -69,7 +69,16 @@ _New releases and release candidates for popular Bitcoin infrastructure projects. Please consider upgrading to new releases or helping to test release candidates._ -FIXME:Gustavojfe +- [Core Lightning 25.12.1][] is a maintenance release that fixes a critical bug + where nodes created with v25.12 could not spend funds sent to non-[P2TR][topic + taproot] addresses (see below). It also fixes recovery and `hsmtool` + compatibility issues with the new mnemonic-based `hsm_secret` format + introduced in v25.12 (see [Newsletter #388][news388 cln]). + +- [LND 0.20.1-beta.rc1][] is a release candidate for a minor version that adds a + panic recovery for gossip message processing, improves reorg protection, + implements LSP detection heuristics, and fixes multiple bugs and race + conditions. See the [release notes] for more details. ## Notable code and documentation changes @@ -82,11 +91,79 @@ Proposals (BIPs)][bips repo], [Lightning BOLTs][bolts repo], [Lightning BLIPs][blips repo], [Bitcoin Inquisition][bitcoin inquisition repo], and [BINANAs][binana repo]._ -FIXME:Gustavojfe +- [Bitcoin Core #32471][] fixes a bug where calling the `listdescriptors` RPC + with the `private=true` parameter (see Newsletters [#134][news134 descriptor] + and [#162][news162 descriptor]) would fail if any [descriptor][topic + descriptors] had a missing private key. This issue affected wallets containing + both non-watch-only and watch-only descriptors, as well as multisig + descriptors without all the private keys. This PR ensures that the RPC + correctly returns the available private keys, enabling users to back them up + properly. Calling `listdescriptors private=true` on a strictly watch-only + wallet still fails. + +- [Bitcoin Core #34146][] improves address propagation by sending a node's + self-announcement in its own P2P message. Previously, the self-announcement + was bundled with multiple other addresses in response to a peer’s `getaddr` + request, which could cause it to be dropped or to displace other addresses. + +- [Core Lightning #8831][] fixes a critical bug where nodes created with v25.12 + could not spend funds sent to non-[P2TR][topic taproot] addresses. Although + all address types were derived based on [BIP86][] for those nodes, the signing + code only used [BIP86][] for P2TR addresses. This PR ensures signing uses + [BIP86][] derivation for all address types. + +- [LDK #4261][] adds support for mixed-mode [splicing][topic splicing], allowing + for simultaneous splice-in and splice-out in the same transaction. The funding + input pays the appropriate fees, as in the splice-in case. The net contributed + value may be negative if more value is spliced out than spliced in. + +- [LDK #4152][] adds support for dummy hops on [blinded][topic rv routing] + payments paths, paralleling the feature for blinded message paths added in + [Newsletter #370][news370 dummy]. Adding additional hops makes it + significantly harder to determine the distance to or the identity of the + receiver node. See [Newsletter #381][news381 dummy] for previous work + enabling this. + +- [LND #10488][] fixes a bug where channels opened with the `fundMax` option + (see [Newsletter #246][news246 fundmax]) were limited in size by the + user-configured `maxChanSize` setting (see [Newsletter #116][news116 + maxchan]), which is intended to only limit incoming channel requests. This PR + ensures that the `fundMax` option uses the protocol-level maximum channel size + instead, depending on whether the user and peer support [large channels][topic + large channel]. + +- [LND #10331][] improves how channel closes handle blockchain reorgs by using + scaled confirmation requirements based on channel size, where the minimum is 1 + and the maximum is 6 confirmations. The chain watcher is revamped with the + introduction of a state machine to better detect blockchain reorgs and track + competing channel close transactions in such scenarios. The PR also adds + monitoring for negative confirmations (when a confirmed transaction is later + reorged out), though how to handle them remains unsolved. This PR addresses + LND's [oldest open issue][lnd issue] from 2016. + +- [Rust Bitcoin #5402][] adds validation during decoding to reject transactions + with duplicate inputs, related to [CVE-2018-17144][topic cve-2018-17144]. + Transactions containing multiple inputs spending the same outpoint are invalid + by consensus. + +- [BIPs #1820][] adds [BIP3][] with status `Deployed`, replacing [BIP2][] as the + guideline for the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) process. See [Newsletter + #388][news388 bip3] for more details. + +- [BOLTs #1306][] clarifies in the [BOLT12][] specification that [offers][topic + offers] with an empty `offer_chains` field must be rejected. An offer with + this field present but containing zero chain hashes makes invoice requests + impossible since the payer cannot satisfy the requirement to set + `invreq_chain` to one of the `offer_chains`. + +- [BLIPs #59][] updates [BLIP51][], also known as LSPS1, to add support for + [BOLT12 offers][topic offers] as an option for paying Lightning Service + Providers (LSPs), alongside the existing [BOLT11][] and on-chain options. This + was previously implemented in LDK (see [Newsletter #347][news347 lsp]). {% include snippets/recap-ad.md when="2026-01-27 17:30" %} {% include references.md %} -{% include linkers/issues.md v=2 issues="" %} +{% include linkers/issues.md v=2 issues="32471,34146,8831,4261,4152,10488,10331,5402,1820,1306,59" %} [channels post]: https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/a-mathematical-theory-of-payment-channel-networks/2204 [channels paper]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.04835 @@ -98,3 +175,16 @@ FIXME:Gustavojfe [bip352 remote scanner]: https://github.com/silent-payments/BIP0352-index-server-specification/blob/main/README.md#remote-scanner-ephemeral [bdk-wasm gh]: https://github.com/bitcoindevkit/bdk-wasm [metamask blog]: https://metamask.io/news/bitcoin-on-metamask-btc-wallet +[Core Lightning 25.12.1]: https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning/releases/tag/v25.12.1 +[LND 0.20.1-beta.rc1]: https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/releases/tag/v0.20.1-beta.rc1 +[news388 cln]: /en/newsletters/2026/01/16/#core-lightning-8830 +[release notes]: https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/blob/v0.20.x-branch/docs/release-notes/release-notes-0.20.1.md +[news134 descriptor]: /en/newsletters/2021/02/03/#bitcoin-core-20226 +[news162 descriptor]: /en/newsletters/2021/08/18/#bitcoin-core-21500 +[news370 dummy]: /en/newsletters/2025/09/05/#ldk-3726 +[news381 dummy]: /en/newsletters/2025/11/21/#ldk-4126 +[news246 fundmax]: /en/newsletters/2023/04/26/#lnd-6903 +[news116 maxchan]: /en/newsletters/2020/09/23/#lnd-4567 +[lnd issue]: https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/issues/53 +[news388 bip3]: /en/newsletters/2026/01/16/#bips-1820 +[news347 lsp]: /en/newsletters/2025/03/28/#ldk-3649 \ No newline at end of file