Endur

What are Stable Channels?

Stable Channels is a library and technology that lets users peg a portion of their bitcoin to a dollar balance.

The Stable Channels implementation runs a full Lightning node that lets users stabilize their bitcoin holdings.

The LSP/Server keeps the user stable by overcollateralizing the Stable Channel at the time of channel creation. Each user (the stability receiver and the the LSP/stability provider) puts in the same amount of bitcoin, the stability mechanism is activated.

The stability mechanism works like this: each node queries four exchange price feeds every minute. Based on the updated price, they adjust the channel balance with their counterparty to keep the stability receiver's balance at a fixed dollar value (e.g., $100,000 of bitcoin).

Both parties remain self-custodial and can opt out anytime via cooperative or forced on-chain channel closure.

The project is in-progress and is based on LDK Node. Prior versions were compatible with LND and CLN. These legacy implementation can be found in /legacy.

Links with examples:

• Basic example: Twitter thread
• In-depth discussion: Delving Bitcoin
• Project website: StableChannels.com

Stable Channels Process

Every 30 seconds, the price of bitcoin:

• (a) Goes up:

  • Stable Receiver loses bitcoin.
    • Less bitcoin is needed to maintain the dollar value.
    • The Stable Receiver pays the Stable Provider.

• (b) Goes down:

  • Stable Receiver gains bitcoin.
    • More bitcoin is needed to maintain the dollar value.
    • The Stable Provider pays the Stable Receiver.

• (c) Stays the same:

  • No action required.

Contributions

Prerequisites

• git - --fast-version-control
• python 3.9 and above - High-level general-purpose programming language
• uv - Extremely fast Python package & project manager, written in Rust

The following guide walks through setting up your local working environment using git as distributed version control system and uv as Python package and version manager. If you do not have git installed, run the following command.

brew install git

sudo apt install git-all

sudo dnf install git-all

winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget

If you do not have uv installed, run the following command.

brew install uv

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

winget install --id=astral-sh.uv -e

Once you have git distributed version control system installed, you can clone the current repository and install any version of Python above version 3.9 for this project. The following commands help you set up and activate a Python virtual environment where uv can download project dependencies from the PyPI open-sourced registry defined under pyproject.toml file.

git clone git@github.com:krutt/endur.git
cd endur
uv venv --python 3.9.6
source .venv/bin/activate
uv sync --dev

Payout Examples (entry = $100,000/BTC)

Each side puts in 1 BTC at $100,0000.

Abbreviations:

• SR = Stable Receiver (targeting $100,000)
• SP = Stable Provider
• Δ = Delta / Change

Acknowledgements

1. Satoshi Lives!
2. The Bitcoin Lightning Network: Scalable Off-Chain Instant Payments
3. Delving Bitcoin: Stable Channels - peer-to-peer dollar balances on Lightning
4. github: toneloc/stable-channels
5. หลายขนาด - Lai Khnad typeface by uvSOV - Worawut Thanawatanawanich
6. Chaumian E-cash
7. Cashu

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License 3.0 license.