Various Payment Methods in the Lightning Network from LNURL to Keysend
The Lightning Network introduces various innovative payment methods to accelerate and simplify Bitcoin transactions at low costs. One of the main features is LNURL, a protocol that allows for more user-friendly interactions. LNURL includes:
LNURL-pay: On-demand invoice requests.
LNURL-withdraw: One-click fund withdrawals.
LNURL-auth: Passwordless authentication.
All LNURLs use the bech32 format starting with "lnurl".
Next, there are Offers (BOLT-12)—a new specification for repeatable payment requests. Suitable for recurring payments such as subscriptions, Offers also provide better privacy compared to BOLT-11.
Finally, there is Keysend or spontaneous payments, which allow sending funds without an invoice. Just with a pre-image known only to the sender, this method is very efficient for tipping or streaming payments.
With these various methods, the Lightning Network provides greater flexibility, efficiency, and higher privacy in the Bitcoin-based payment ecosystem.
