Interesting Developments in Bitcoin Lightning: A Developer Leaves the Project Citing a Major Vulnerability

Antoine Riard, one of the leading

Bitcoin

and Lightning Network developers, announced in a public email that he will no longer be working on the Lightning project and explained the reasons why.

Riard announced that he discovered a new class of attack against the Lightning Network, a second-layer solution that aims to enable fast and cheap transactions on top of Bitcoin.

So-called “replacement loop attacks” involve maliciously replacing honest transactions that are supposed to settle payments on the Lightning Network with fraudulent ones. This may result in loss of funds or service to network users.

Riard said he followed a responsible reporting process and informed some senior Lightning developers about the issue, but he also warned that the only sustainable solution would occur at Bitcoin’s base layer, which would require a consensus update or a significant change to full node transaction requirements.

Riard said he faced a difficult dilemma between explaining why such changes were necessary for the good of Lightning and exposing critical attacks on this network that hosts more than 5,000 BTC.

Riard stated that he would cease his involvement in the development of the Lightning Network and its applications and focus more on

Bitcoin

Core, the main software client for Bitcoin.

*This is not investment advice.