The Bitcoin Lightning Network payment provider, Amboss, has launched “Ghost Addresses” to enable users to receive payments directly into their custody.
Ghost addresses are a new type of address on the Bitcoin Lightning network that removes the need for relaying on custodial wallet providers. The company describes it as a lightning address to receive payments directly in your own custody without requiring you to run a separate Lightning Address server.
“Ghost Addresses use special Phantom Payments that don’t require any additional node permissions or macaroons to receive bitcoin to a static lightning address endpoint,” says the official website.
While the Bitcoin Lightning Network already provides an easy way to transact BTC with a user-friendly email-like address format, the solution proposed by Amboss on top of it can be seen as a major development for the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Ghost Addresses aims to replace custodial addresses, which publicly disclose transaction details such as payment sizes and subsequent transactions. All the payments made with Ghost Addresses use custom-generated invoices which adds a layer of privacy to transactions.
“Contrary to the trustless spirit of Bitcoin, many applications using Lightning Network for payments rely heavily on centralized, custodial Lightning wallet providers,” said Amboss CEO, Jesse Shrader. “Ghost Addresses solve this problem by enabling anyone to receive payments directly to their self-custodied wallet using what looks like an email address, bypassing these centralized third parties.”
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