Watchtower

Why you need it

Watchtowers are an important component of the Lightning Network, which is a second-layer Bitcoin payment channel network. Their main purpose is to protect users from potential fraud or attacks from their channel partners. In practice, watchtowers are services that constantly monitor users' payment channels. If a node on the network attempts to send a fraudulent transaction through a channel, the watchtower intervenes immediately, sending an emergency closure transaction to safeguard the funds of the involved users. Watchtowers are particularly useful for users who cannot constantly monitor their payment channels, such as if they are offline for an extended period of time. In this case, the watchtower continues to monitor the channel for them and intervenes in case of any issues. It's worth noting that the use of watchtowers is optional. Users can choose not to use them and monitor their payment channels independently. However, for anyone looking to have an extra layer of security on their Lightning Network payment channels, watchtowers are a recommended choice.

Configure (activate the watch)

To enable your LN daemon to work with watchtower edit your lnd.conf file and:
  • set watchtower.active = 1
  • stop and restart your lightning node

    Connect

    If you need a watchtower on clear net:
  • Pubkey: 03b06847b0d56c466555f2c6922a08249f60647fce2d39a36ab2dd0309ac5b1b0d
  • Address: wt2.frznode.com:9911
  • You need to buy the service here on microlancer.io
  • now you use lncli command to connect as follow: lncli wtclient add 03b06847b0d56c466555f2c[email protected]:9911

    If you need a watchtower on the onion network:
  • Pubkey: 03b06847b0d56c466555f2c6922a08249f60647fce2d39a36ab2dd0309ac5b1b0d
  • Address: ulth7cn7un7wonehii562ar6ov3hilaf5nchvb2ydc5tnsskaluuqyyd.onion:9911
  • now you use the lncli command to connect as follow: lncli wtclient add 03b06847b0d56c466555f2c6922a08249f60647fce2d39a36ab2dd0309ac5b1b0d@ulth7cn7un7wonehii562ar6ov3hilaf5nchvb2ydc5tnsskaluuqyyd.onion:9911
  • I hope you consider donating using the qrcode LNURL or simply connect using qrcode in the page.

    Extra

    You can find a more detailed guide on how to setup a watchtower here.

    FAQ

  • How can I check that the watchtower is working for my node?
    • You have active sessions with the tower when the command lncli wtclient towers shows: "active_session_candidate": true,

    tower support:

    LNURL

    LNURL1DP68GURN8GHJ7MRWVF5HGUEWVEE85MN0V3JJUCM0D5HKCMN4WFK8QT6Z2AD8YU6CP9UKV7