How can I change routing fees?

Alby Hub is not optimized for big routing nodes. However, you can adjust fees as you wish.

Routing fees in the lightning network are paid to node operators for facilitating transactions between users. Some nodes can operate as routing nodes and earn bitcoin for their services.


Understanding Routing Fees and Alby Hub💡

Alby Hub keeps your bitcoin secure and private while blocking unwanted guests!

Alby Hub is a self-custodial wallet, meaning it acts as a node in the lightning network. However, it is not designed as a routing node but as a personal custodial wallet, optimized to safeguard the owner's funds rather than routing bitcoin. For this reason, we recommend opening only private channels, unless you are a podcaster expecting to receive boostagram or keysend payments.

Private channels ensure efficient routing of transactions. Mixing public and private channels can disrupt this efficiency. Alby Hub has high default routing fees to prevent the lightning network from using your Hub for others' payments. This ensures only you can send and receive bitcoin through your node.

So, "Can I change the routing fees?"

Routing fees can only be changed on public channels. If you only open private channels, you will not see the option to change the routing fees.

In the case you need to have your Alby Hub with public channels, yes, you will be able to change the routing fees of all the public channels...But do you really want to?

Remember: It is not recommended to change the routing fees: they are set high by default to prevent others from messing with your channel's liquidity.


Changing the routing fee

On "Liquidity," click on the three dots on the right side of the channel, then select "Set Routing Fee." The amount shown is in milli-satoshis. By default, the number is set to 10,000 mSats, which is equal to 10 satoshis.

This high fee makes it unattractive for the lightning network algorithms and third-party actors to use your Alby Hub as a node to route payments. Due to these high fees, the Alby Hub is better defined as a self-custodial wallet rather than a routing node, while having public channels.

Setting high fees ⚡ on your public channels enhances reliability and gives you better control over your Alby Hub self-custodial wallet. 😊


Thank you for stopping by! This section was created with contributions from Jean-Paul

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