<p>It was added as a compromise against <em>more complicated</em> ideas, actually. Base plus percentage is a pretty standard fee structure, so I went with it.</p>
<p>If I'd been more familiar with the finance world, it would have been expressed in basis points, though, not ppm.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-29T23:09:37.100Z
2021-06-29T23:09:37.100Z
Rusty Russell
<p>Currently and <a href="https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc/blob/master/07-routing-gossip.md#htlc-fees" rel="nofollow noreferrer">as defined by BOLT 07</a> on the Lightning Network, the fees for forwarding an HTLC of amount <code>amount_to_forward</code> are computed as:</p>
<pre><code>fee_base_msat +  amount_to_forward * fee_proportional_millionths / 1000000
</code></pre>
<p>I am wondering why the <code>fee_base_msat</code> was actually included and which concrete problem it solved that could not be solved if the <code>fee_base_msat</code> were dropped?</p>

<lightning-network><lightning-routing><lightning-rfc><lightning-fees>
Why was the base_fee for the routing fee calculation of the Lightning Network included?
Rene Pickhardt
# Why was the base_fee for the routing fee calculation of the Lightning Network included?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-28)

Currently and [as defined by BOLT 07](https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc/blob/master/07-routing-gossip.md#htlc-fees) on the Lightning Network, the fees for forwarding an HTLC of amount `amount_to_forward` are computed as:

```
fee_base_msat +  amount_to_forward * fee_proportional_millionths / 1000000

```

I am wondering why the `fee_base_msat` was actually included and which concrete problem it solved that could not be solved if the `fee_base_msat` were dropped?

**Tags:** lightning-network, lightning-routing, lightning-rfc, lightning-fees


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-06-29. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

It was added as a compromise against *more complicated* ideas, actually. Base plus percentage is a pretty standard fee structure, so I went with it.

If I'd been more familiar with the finance world, it would have been expressed in basis points, though, not ppm.


---

