I tested ZEUS v0.8.0 yesterday: https://blog.zeusln.com/zeus-v0-8-0-open-beta/ as there isn't such a thing as the BEST LN wallet—only a better tool in different situations, so I want to understand what are the right use cases for it.
ZEUS v0.8.0ZEUS v0.8.0
Advantages
- Easy setup: download and almost good to go - it might take some time to syn
- No need to figure out all the inbound and outbound liquidity
- Users own their KEY!
- With a Self-custodial lightning addresses
- LSP offers more privacy as it doesn't expose the node's public key
Downsides
There are quite some fees, but I guess you pay for the convenience.
a. I did a few tests sending funds to the LN address during the syn process, which changed me by 50%, and here is the fee.
https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/Ja9bUolzWVJC.png?o=1
b. To redeem the zaps or receive payments, you then need to enable the LSP, and here is the setup fee, which is quite high, but then you only need to pay for the normal network fee once the channel is up and running.
https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/DHoUitJPsCXZ.png?o=1
Here are the use cases I've found so far:Here are the use cases I've found so far:
- For those who want to level up from the custodial LN wallets but do not ( want to ) run a node or have no time to learn about all the inbound and outbound liquidity
- For current node runners who don't want to expose their node public key and don't want to use custodial LN wallets
- Using the Self-custodial lightning addresses in Nostr or generally receiving tips in websites; However, it only makes sense if you are getting zapped quite a significant amount.
- A good option for restaurants or cafes to level up from WOS or Blink, but the coming up non-custodial version of Blink may be better? as many essential features for running restaurants or cafes are still missing in it atm.
And in my case, as a nomad, but I do have a home node at my base, and I'm using Blixt wallet as a backup, so I'm trying to understand what other fun with the ZEUS LN that I possibly missed? 👀
meme from @DarthCoin
I did a test between Zeus and Blixt. Both are LND nodes. Are fully interoperable.
DO NOT OPEN BOTH IN THE SAME TIME! Maybe I will do a test on the way around Blixt —>Zeus but should work just fine.
Later I will try another test, "recovering" a dead Umbrel node (LND) into Zeus, with the SCB data. It should work too.
https://i.postimg.cc/bvvrxG07/two-nodes.jpg
I just found a fun use for it
😂😂😂
And for login on SN you don't even need to open channels. secret trick
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oh, fun hack! using it for recovery, let me do a test too.
can you please expand on this point? what do you mean, it sound like you use some combo of your own node (at home not the one in phone) and the Zeus one (in the phone)
Your Zeus node is behind Olympus LSP. All payments received will use route hints that will see as last hop the Olympus pubkey (not your private Zeus node).
You can still open channels with any other publuc node if you want.
There is an option in Zeus to hide/show the route hints.
Will be interesting to see in the future an option to request an invoice with MPP by default.
Ah I see. I think?
So what your saying is: have your own private lightning node with one set of channels for one set of payments.
Then have your Zeus node for another set of payments where you don't care when public key is revealed, because its not yours.
I was thinking for a moment it meant, connect the two nodes somehow by opening channel to Zeus or something.
I would recommend also to open various private channels with your new Zeus node. Apart from Olympus by Zeus (by default LSP) you could open 2-3 more other channels with good nodes (see here some recomendations) and activate MPP in your Zeus.
That means all your payments will go through all channels available, spreading the amount in smaller parts and taking various routes.
This technique will not only help you find better routes and cheaper, but also keeping a good balance into your channels and improve your privacy.
Here I wrote more scenarios about how to use these private LN nodes as a merchant. https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/operating-with-ln-as-a-merchant
More scenarios that you can apply with Zeus node here https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/bitcoin-and-privacy
Same as Phoenix Wallet
It is not the same, Phoenix Wallet has more fee and less features, but I stopped using Phoenix after I found out about Blixt - I like having more control.
People saying that Phoenix has expensive fees don't know how to use it properly.
Will tell you a trick:
Conclusion: to avoid lots of fees, start with a larger channel opening and never closing it. This simple rule is valid for all LN nodes.
will @darthcoin write about more tricks on how to use different wallets? or how do you arrange them for public or private stuff? There are many basic tutorials out there, but showing how to use each better in what situation isn't much 👀
https://i.postimg.cc/CxYfVMyR/darth-impressive.gif
I updated this guide about Private LN nodes with including Zeus node (also with link to your post on SN) and also Phoenix tricks.
how did you do this?
With OP_Return Bot made by @benthecarman.
You can do it also without the bot but is more complicated and you need a specialized wallet app.
OMG, so cool, this was exactly what I learned about Bitcoin when I first heard about it.
https://mempool.space/tx/3080057b3db58291a95982ca036f11fc09baacfd10772a05f22444d64efd47bb
seems from two Turks here https://mempool.space/tx/ae00238c57f27f94b7410e7b79bb4208762cbaa3f07fd2eacd4178fd3f94f421
Many tricks are already in my guides. Also I wrote the whole documentation for Blixt and OBW The following guides could be used now very easily with Zeus too. Zeus and Blixt are brothers now.
Guess I need to reread some of them.
I think Blixt is for more advanced users, Zeus is more for people with less LN knowledge or maybe being lazy and want something quick.
Indeed, in many of my guides I inserted some "gems".
I like hunting gems 🤣
Start playing with Zeus. Is also advanced due to the fact that you can manage any channels you want. Zeus and Blixt ard now really similar in features. Yes, Zeus doesn't have so many items in settings like Blixt but those are mord for really advanced users and not really necessary for regular users.
You will discover a real powerful mobile node in Zeus.
Having Zeus and Blixt on your phone shows that you are an advanced LN user. Powerful.
it's so wild that we are playing with phone nodes now, but many normies are still trying to open a bank account!
Wish I knew this before
How much space on the phone is required to run the node?
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is not the neutrino taking much space, but the LN graph. In time will be bigger.
interesting 👀 I'm a bit curious how it works under the hood, like I know how to use them, but I don't quite understand how the devs make it happend - a node in your pocket is quite wild hahha
https://i.postimg.cc/Vk21Hn8F/darth-using-lightsaber.gif
Neutrino (BIP157) is the service that is syncing the block headers. That is a small part of data and also quite private. You can connect to the LSP bitcoin node or any other bitcoin node (even random) that is providing blocks through neutrino.
From there, the LND node, linked to these blocks, is downloading and syncing the LN graph (the map of all public nodes and channels) from your LN peers you are connected.
In Zeus case I don't know exactly how is syncing this LN graph, but in Blixt case I know that they setup a server node that is providing a quicker and compressed copy of the LN graph that you, the user, download faster when you open the app and you are ready to transact over LN faster with a cleaned up map of zombie channels. In the past was the issue that Blixt mobile nodes, because of low latency connection were downloading a wrong map with a lot of zombie channels and their payment were failing a lot because of that. Now is working really nice. In the future could be better protocols to getting faster this initial sync at opening the app.
People using these mobile nodes MUST remember that if you do not have a good internet connection this sync could fail a lot, so your wallet. so have patience at least when you open the app and also try to open it almost every day to have a quicker update and better routes.
Zeus can do both, load LN gossip data from peers in p2p network (default behaviour, decentralized but slower) or from OLYMPUS (Zeus LSP). To load gossip data from OLYMPUS you need to enable "Express Graph Sync" in Embedded Node settings. Express Graph Sync only fetches the difference since last time, so there shouldn't be much overhead.
Wild indeed,
Just heard BTC sessions say he created a seed with cold card used BIP85 to derive child seeds, one of which he used for the mutiny (node in browser).
Interesting! Do you remember what video or podcast?
It was his reason for being bullish in the last "Why are we Bullish" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EIHdwpGDVk&t=6443s
And on top of that, Portland Hodl is bullish because of the seed vaults that he can put his child seeds in....
We're actually ridiculously early
thanks!
yes, and so happy being early when others are still running around like a chicken without its head 😂
I found this https://primal.net/e/note1rhnn8rjg352q48tye6r9f6lncqaegnjnajnvza2yela6694cm0jse68ala
But I'm happy using Alby for nostr atm, I like self-sovereign, but not everything is worth the same level of security, but nice to see what the options are out there tho!
also I don't understand is what are the built-in nostr keys there for?
I haven't tried, but isn't it for a contact list?
weekend fun for you then!
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Receiving Zap notifications via Nostr DM is quite cool, but the fee is not so cool 😂 Imagine that when people zap you 100-200 sats, then you pay half as the fee!
Also zapping range is mostly around 21- 1000 sats in Nostr atm, I wonder why they set that fee range.
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Agree.
Off course the maker sets the price, so nothing to say about the market dinamycs.
However If I were in the shoes of someone that wants to use that solution instead of, let's say, WoS, I would really ask myself:
the smart move would be to lower the fee to onboard more users in this stage, I mean, it's a free market in the Bitcoin world haha; why not attract more loyal users and it's also a good marketing for them - imaging more people using the LN address with Zeus.
I'm using Zeus since I'm running my own node for a couple of years now. Haven't read the blogpost yet, but is it possible to add a-node-on-my-phone besides my current node config?
yes, click setting then hit the top right +, then you can add different node, but you need to upgrade the APP so to test the new feature.
Yes I get it, neat upgrade of Zeus ⚡️
Fun fact: did you know that with Zeus you can generate AMP invoices? But keep in mind that for now, only LND nodes can support paying these AMP static invoices. This can be useful for small merchants using Zeus node, for repetitive fix amount invoices.
Atomic Multi-path Payments (AMP) are a type of Lightning invoices that can be paid multiple times.
but isn't default in Umbrel node? 🤔 and yes, I did saw that option.
I also discovered a new feature in Zeus last night, in each transaction it shows the path, with details like which node forwarded your sats and how much sats they charged, so cool.
PS: do you know how the route hint works? just saw this one.
No, you need to add a line in lnd.conf to support AMP
Try also keysend. Is like those secret messages over SN 😂😂
route hints are like secret indications to the payer node to find the proper route to your private node (that is behind a LSP node)
what I did in Umbrel node was go to Lightning Node - advanced setting - routing, then enable the AMP.
Just tried and yes, it says you need to enable the LSP, so it can be a lazy way of opening a channel with the payer directly? 😂
In a payment your LSP is the last hop in that route hints. The LSP knows your nodeID and fw the payment to you through the private channel you have with. The LSP could be any other public node you are connected to.
So we now have 3 apps in the ecosystem that allow you to run a Neutrino Lightning node (BIP157) in your pocket 😃
Phoenix is not using neutrino. Blixt is not "coming soon", is already here with more advanced features.
Is there any reason i would want a private channel open with my lightning node with the LSP mobile node ?
Being a mobile node it doesn't make sense to have public channels. You do NOT route. You use those private channels only for your own txs.
Ya but what abt a private channel 🤙
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