LDK Node is the new Lightning node library released by the Lightning Dev Kit team to make it easier to set up self-custodial Lightning nodes.
The LDK Node Lightning Node Library provides a simple interface and an on-chain wallet that allows developers to quickly set up Lightning nodes. This is a lightweight solution focused on reduce complexity when building nodes in the Bitcoin sidechain.
The Lightning Dev Kit development team explained that LDK Node is a more complete version of the LDK library, offering developers a high level of customization when setting up nodes. However, the latter covers around 900 API calls, requiring developers to have a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of the Lightning Network protocol as well as some familiarity with the LDK API, which has made its use be more complicated and less accessible.
With LDK Node, the Lightning Dev Kit seeks to solve this problem, reducing the effort required to configure a Lightning node. The LDK development team reported that with the new node library it is possible deploy a new Lightning node in one day.
LDK Node, created with LDK and BDK
The new Lightning node library was created using the development kits Lightning Dev Kit (LDK) y Bitcoin Dev Kit (BDK). The first allows app developers to easily integrate the Lightning Network into Bitcoin wallets. The second is designed to facilitate the creation of cross-platform mobile wallets, integrating Bitcoin wallet functions into any application.
To reduce the complexity of Lightning nodes, LDK Node spans just 30 API calls, resulting in more simplicity without impacting usability. Still, the node library “remains configurable enough to operate a fully functional self-custody Lightning node in several use cases,” the developers noted.
On the other hand, SDK Node was also developed considering the need to simplify the integration of self-custody Lightning nodes in mobile applications, so it incorporates features focused on mobile deployments, such as integration with an Esplora chain data source and a server. Rapid Gossip Sync. All this in order to allow nodes to operate in mobile environments, including those that may be limited by bandwidth, and to guarantee the objectives with which the Lightning network was created, of allowing fast, private and secure Bitcoin transactions. for the end user.
On Twitter, the Lightning Dev Kit developers they stood out that the release of version 0.1 of SDK Node is just the beginning and that they are already working on the development of a next version that will integrate support for obtaining data from the Electrum network, among other innovations.
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