People think Lightning Network has no fees, but that's just not true. There are fees, and they can add up. Like, I did a transaction for 0.027BTC and paid 0.000164BTC in fees, almost what on-chain costs. Is there a way to lower those fees? Does which node I pick on Electrum like ACINQ or trampoline make a difference?
Running your own lightning node can totally eliminate fees when you open a channel with another node. But if you're relying on other people's channels, you’ll incur some fees, even if they’re small. So it’s not all free as it may seem.
0.000164BTC is about $7, which seems pretty steep. The node operator might just be charging high fees, or maybe you’re talking about what you paid to open a channel.
Wait a minute! LN transaction fees are way lower than that. If you’re paying $7, you probably confused it with the channel opening fee. Operators usually set their fees super low to attract users, not to cash in.
What do you mean "not possible"? I already paid that amount! It was on Electrum trampoline, not just random fees. This was specifically for a lightning payment.
Fees totally depend on the route your payment takes. The more hops through different channels, the more fees stack up. If your payment got split into smaller amounts, that could also affect the total fee.
Honestly, I thought LN was meant for tiny transactions. If I had over $1k, I'd stick with on-chain. But I’ve used exchanges with LN withdrawals that barely charge any fees, like 5 sats. So it’s weird you paid so much. Does your wallet show the fee before you send?
I wish we knew which node type has the lowest fees ACINQ vs Electrum trampoline vs trampoline hodlistreco. It seems like nobody has a clear answer. Electrum doesn't show fees upfront, so I'm kinda lost on how to find it out before sending.