Bitcoin Q&A: Lightning usability, privacy, and Taproot

What is the best way to manage Lightning channels? How usable is the Lightning Network, in comparison to email? How do you re-balance a channel? In what scenario are payment channels useful? Can you identify on-chain transactions for payment channels? Why will Taproot make this more difficult?

More about splicing in this episode of Let's Talk Bitcoin: https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/lets-talk-bitcoin-389-revisiting-lightning-part-1

UPDATE: Just yesterday, Pieter Wuille wrote about the BIPs for the Taproot soft fork here: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2019-May/016914.html

These questions are from the January monthly subscriber session, the Buenos Aires event, and the fifth session of MOOC 11, which took place on January 26th, January 29th, and March 1st 2019 respectively. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

RELATED:
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The Internet of Money: Five Years Later - https://youtu.be/6xIq0FdmsIA
The Lightning Network - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPQwGV1aLnTurL4wU_y3jOhBi9rrpsYyi
Wallets, nodes, and monetary sovereignty - https://youtu.be/8Hb3tUn8s4E
Honest nodes and consensus - https://youtu.be/KAhY2ymI-tg
Node compatibility, Lightning, and incentives -https://youtu.be/x1on0sdTU4M
Why running a node is important - https://youtu.be/oX0Yrv-6jVs
Software distribution security - https://youtu.be/_V0vqy046YM
Protocol development security - https://youtu.be/4fsL5XWsTJ4
What is rendezvous routing? - https://youtu.be/vnDiJJoPESo
Unspent transaction output (UTXO) - https://youtu.be/ZCsakXHiwlw
Lightning clients, capacity, and dust - https://youtu.be/HFJRXYkbyPQ
How to get people to care about security - https://youtu.be/Ji1lS9NMz1E

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

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MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://amzn.to/2xcdsY9

Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: https://bitcoinbook.info/translations-of-mastering-bitcoin/

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://amzn.to/2ykmXFs

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://amzn.to/2IIG5BJ

Translations of THE INTERNET OF MONEY:
Spanish, 'Internet del Dinero' (v1) - https://amzn.to/2yoaTTq
French, 'L'internet de l'argent' (v1) - https://www.amazon.fr/Linternet-largent-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/2856083390
Russian, 'Интернет денег' (v1) - https://www.olbuss.ru/catalog/ekonomika-i-biznes/korporativnye-finansy-bankovskoe-delo/internet-deneg
Vietnamese, 'Internet Của Tiền Tệ' (v1) - https://alphabooks.vn/khi-tien-len-mang

MASTERING ETHEREUM (Q4): https://amzn.to/2xdxmlK

Music: "Unbounded" by Orfan (https://www.facebook.com/Orfan/)
Outro Graphics: Phneep (http://www.phneep.com/)
Outro Art: Rock Barcellos (http://www.rockincomics.com.br/)