Lightning Bounties Terms

Lightning Bounties Glossary: Top 50 Terms

A

Anonymous Rewards

A feature that allows users to fund bounties without revealing their identity, promoting privacy while still supporting open-source development.

Assets (Taproot Assets)

A Taproot-powered protocol for issuing assets on the Bitcoin blockchain that can be transferred over the Lightning Network for instant, high-volume, low-fee transactions.

B

Balance

The amount of Bitcoin (measured in sats) available in a user's Lightning Bounties account that can be used to fund bounties or withdrawn.

Bitcoin

A decentralized digital currency where transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger.

BOLT-11 Invoice

The standardized format for Lightning Network payment requests, containing payment amount, destination, and optional message.

Bounty

A reward offered for completing a specific task, typically fixing a bug or implementing a feature in an open-source project.

Bounty Lock Time

A specified period during which bounty funds are locked in escrow to ensure they remain available when developers submit solutions.

Bug Bounty

A reward offered to developers who discover and report bugs in a software project, enhancing security and reliability.

C

Channel Reserve

The amount of Bitcoin required to open a Lightning Network payment channel.

Crowdfunding Bounties

A feature allowing multiple users to contribute funds toward a single bounty, increasing the reward and incentivizing developers.

Custodial Wallet

A wallet where a third party maintains control of private keys, reducing user responsibility but potentially introducing security risks.

D

Decoded Invoice

The human-readable information extracted from a Lightning invoice showing payment amount, destination, and expiration time.

Deposit

The process of adding Bitcoin to your Lightning Bounties account to fund bounties.

Developers

One of the primary user groups of Lightning Bounties who can showcase skills, earn Bitcoin, and contribute to open-source projects.

Digital Signature

Cryptographic proof that the holder controls a specific Bitcoin address, used to authorize transactions from that address.

E

Escrow

A system that holds bounty funds securely until predetermined conditions are met, ensuring fair transactions between parties.

Expiry

A feature allowing a bounty creator to reclaim funds after the lock time ends if priorities change or the issue is resolved elsewhere.

F

Flexible Expiry Options

The ability to manually expire a bounty and reclaim funds after the lock time ends if the issue is resolved through other means.

Funding Transaction

The transaction that establishes a Lightning Network channel by locking Bitcoin in a multisignature address.

G

GitHub API as Oracle

The mechanism that uses GitHub's API to automatically verify when solutions are accepted, triggering reward distribution.

GitHub Issue

A ticket in a GitHub repository that identifies bugs or requested features, which can be linked to bounties on Lightning Bounties.

GitHub Projects

Software repositories on GitHub that can benefit from Lightning Bounties to incentivize contributions and bug fixes.

GitHub URL

The web address of a GitHub repository or issue that is linked to a bounty on Lightning Bounties.

H

Hash

A cryptographic function that generates a fixed-size output from variable-size input, used extensively in blockchain and Lightning Network.

K

Keypair

The combination of public and private keys that control access to Bitcoin addresses and funds.

L

Lightning Bounties Platform

A Bitcoin-powered bug bounty platform that integrates with GitHub workflows to enable developers to earn Bitcoin for open-source contributions.

Lightning Gossip Network

The network used to broadcast information about channels and peers in the Lightning Network.

Lightning Invoice

A payment request on the Lightning Network that includes payment amount, destination, and an expiration time.

Lightning Network

A layer-2 solution built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain that enables faster and cheaper transactions through payment channels.

Lightning Network Channel

A peer-to-peer payment channel that enables instant and low-cost transactions between two parties.

Lightning Wallet

A wallet specifically designed to send and receive payments through the Lightning Network, offering faster transactions than traditional Bitcoin wallets.

Lock Time

The period during which bounty funds are guaranteed to be available, giving developers confidence that rewards will be paid upon completion.

M

mSats (Millisatoshis)

Each 1/1000 of a satoshi, allowing for even smaller denominations on the Lightning Network while channels are open.

N

No Banking Restrictions

A feature of Lightning Bounties that allows global operation with Bitcoin, bypassing region-restricted payment processors.

Non-custodial Wallet

A wallet where the user maintains full control over their private keys and funds, increasing security responsibility but eliminating third-party risks.

O

Open Source Development

The collaborative practice of making source code freely available for modification and redistribution, which Lightning Bounties supports and incentivizes.

Organizations

Entities that use Lightning Bounties to tap into a global developer pool to improve software quality and security.

P

Payment

A transaction that occurs on the Lightning Network, routed through payment channels without being recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Peer-to-peer Network

A decentralized system like Bitcoin or Lightning Network where connections occur directly between participants without intermediaries.

PlebLab

A Bitcoin-focused incubator that supports Lightning Bounties and other Bitcoin innovation projects.

Pull Request

A method of submitting contributions to a GitHub repository, which triggers reward distribution when merged with proper closing syntax.

R

Recovery Phrase

A series of words that can recover wallet access, also known as a seed phrase or mnemonic.

Reward Claimed

The status indicating a bounty has been successfully paid to a developer after their solution was accepted.

S

Satoshi (sats)

The smallest unit of Bitcoin, representing 1/100,000,000 (one hundred millionth) of a Bitcoin, named after Bitcoin's creator.

Seed Phrase

A list of words that store all the information needed to recover a Bitcoin wallet.

Smart Reward Distribution

The automated system that distributes bounty rewards to contributors once their pull request is verified and merged.

T

Transaction ID (txid)

The unique identifier hash of a Bitcoin transaction, used to identify Lightning Network channels.

W

Watchtower

A security service that monitors the blockchain for potential channel breaches and takes action to protect funds if necessary.

Withdraw

The process of transferring Bitcoin from your Lightning Bounties account to your personal Lightning wallet.