By EZ in News — Sep 24, 2024

BOLT12: Offers Officially Merged into Lightning Specification

BOLT12 is now a part of the official Lightning Specification. It is a significant enhancement to the Lightning Network, streamlining payments, improving privacy, and supporting new use cases like subscriptions and advanced payment conditions.

Source: PIRO4D.

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BOLT12 (Offers) upgrade to the Lightning Specification aims to boost the network's efficiency and flexibility. The central innovation introduced by BOLT12 is the Offers protocol, which makes creating, managing, and executing Lightning invoices easier.

big news 🗞️ today: BOLT12 has officially been merged into the bolts repo and is now part of the official lightning specification!! ⚡️

currently three implementations support it: core-lightning, LDK, and eclair/phoenix

this is the first new BOLT to be added since 2017! pic.twitter.com/RsFcrAm3H0
— niftynei() (@niftynei) September 24, 2024

Offers present a more adaptable and reusable option compared to conventional invoices, allowing for automatic invoice creation, recurring payments, and enhanced privacy. By adopting BOLT12, the Lightning Network can accommodate a wider variety of applications, such as subscriptions, donations, and pay-as-you-go services, all while simplifying payment interactions. For users, it also means better receiver privacy and improved censorship resistance.