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Set Up Lightning Earn Wallets

Overview

Lightning Earn wallets are custodial Lightning wallets that enable you to earning fees through payment routing and liquidity leases on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Powered by Amboss, these wallets leverage advanced routing algorithms and liquidity management tools to capture Lightning fees with your bitcoin.

Unlike standard custodial Lightning wallets used for sending and receiving payments, Lightning Earn wallets are purpose-built for:

  • Payment Routing - Earn routing fees by facilitating Lightning payments between other nodes on the network.
  • Liquidity Leases - Provide inbound liquidity to other nodes in exchange for lease fees.
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Note

You can't send or receive Lightning payments from Lightning Earn wallets. If you need payment capabilities alongside fee generation, create a separate Custody Lightning Wallet.

How It Works

Lightning Earn wallets operate as routing nodes within the Lightning Network:

  1. Channel Management - Amboss manages channel openings and closures to optimize routing opportunities.
  2. Liquidity Optimization - The Magma AI engine identifies the best channels to open based on network demand and routing potential.
  3. Fee Collection - You automatically collect routing fees when your node facilitates payments between other parties.
  4. Liquidity Marketplace - Automatically participate in the Amboss Magma marketplace to lease your liquidity to nodes seeking inbound capacity.

BitGo handles node operations, security, and infrastructure while Amboss provides the routing optimization and liquidity marketplace integration.

Staking Infrastructure

BitGo manages Lightning Earn wallets through staking infrastructure, providing the following benefits:

  • Unified Fee Management - Manage your Lightning routing earnings alongside other positions in your portfolio.
  • Consistent Reporting - View routing returns and liquidity lease income through the same reporting tools used for staking rewards.
  • Enterprise Controls - Apply the same governance policies and approval workflows used for staking operations.

Although Lightning Earn wallets leverage BitGo staking infrastructure, earning Lightning fees isn't staking activity. To learn more about BitGo's staking capabilities, see Staking Overview.

Prerequisites

  • Get Started
  • Sign a Lightning Earn license for your enterprise by contacting [email protected]. Once signed, a lightningCustody license will be added to your enterprise.

1. Create Lightning Earn Wallet

Endpoint: Generate Wallet

export BITGO_EXPRESS_HOST="<YOUR_LOCALHOST>"
export COIN="tlnbtc"
export ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
export LABEL="<YOUR_WALLET_NAME>"
export PASSPHRASE="<YOUR_BITGO_LOGIN_PASSPHRASE>"
export PASSCODE_ENCRYPTION_CODE="<YOUR_BITGO_PASSPHRASE_ENCRYPTION_CODE>"
export ENTERPRISE_ID="<YOUR_ENTERPRISE_ID>"

curl -X POST \
https://$BITGO_EXPRESS_HOST/api/v2/$COIN/wallet/generate \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
-d '{
    "label": "'"$LABEL"'",
    "passphrase": "'"$PASSPHRASE"'",
    "passcodeEncryptionCode": "'"$PASSCODE_ENCRYPTION_CODE"'",
    "enterprise": "'"$ENTERPRISE_ID"'",
    "type": "hot",
    "subType": "lightningCustody",
    "provider": "amboss"
}'
const { BitGo } = require('bitgo');

// Fill in with actual access token
const accessToken = '<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>';

// Initialize the SDK
const bitgo = new BitGo({
    accessToken: accessToken,
    env: 'test',
});

// Generate Lightning Earn wallet
async function createLightningEarnWallet() {
    const newWallet = await bitgo.coin('tlnbtc').wallets().generateWallet({
    label: '<YOUR_WALLET_NAME>',
    passphrase: '<YOUR_BITGO_LOGIN_PASSPHRASE>',
    passcodeEncryptionCode: '<YOUR_BITGO_PASSPHRASE_ENCRYPTION_CODE>',
    enterprise: '<YOUR_ENTERPRISE_ID>',
    subType: 'lightningCustody',
    provider: 'amboss'
});

    console.log(JSON.stringify(newWallet, undefined, 2));
}

Step Result

Once you create a Lightning Earn wallet, BitGo provisions a Lightning node optimized for routing through Amboss. This process can take up to 24 hours to complete. BitGo sends you an email notification when the wallet is ready to use.

2. Fund Your Wallet

To begin earning through routing and liquidity leases, you need to fund your Lightning Earn wallet with bitcoin. Generate an on-chain deposit address and transfer bitcoin to your wallet.

Endpoint: Create Address

export BITGO_EXPRESS_HOST="<YOUR_LOCALHOST>"
export COIN="tlnbtc"
export ACCESS_TOKEN="<YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
export WALLET_ID="<YOUR_WALLET_ID>"

curl -X POST \
https://$BITGO_EXPRESS_HOST/api/v2/$COIN/wallet/$WALLET_ID/address \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN"

Once funded, Amboss manages channel openings and liquidity deployment to maximize routing opportunities and fee generation.

Monitoring Performance

You can monitor Lightning Earn wallet routing activity and earnings through:

  • BitGo Dashboard - View wallet balances and transaction history.
  • Lightning Transaction Endpoints - Use the List Lightning Transactions endpoint to view routing activity.

Next Steps

See Also

Updated about 6 hours ago