<p>I've asked the Lightning developers on Slack and this was their response:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/zDADh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/zDADh.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Please note that things might change in the future.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-05T13:23:48.590Z
2018-01-05T13:23:48.590Z
Luca Matteis
<p>Whenever the balance of a Lightning channel is updated, the counterparties must revoke the Commitment Transaction reflecting the channel's earlier balance, and sign a new Commitment Transaction with the new balance.  If the counterparty attempts to steal funds by broadcasting the revoked transaction to the Bitcoin network, then the other party can broadcast an anti-theft transaction that forfeit's the counterparty's funds.</p>

<p>A common objection I hear from skeptics of the Lightning Network is that, as a consequence of this, you have to be constantly online and monitoring the blockchain to prevent this kind of fraud.</p>

<p>However, as mentioned in <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/46183/does-anyone-get-custodial-control-of-your-funds-when-using-lightning-network/46208#46208">this post</a>, I've heard it proposed a number of times that:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>the anti-cheat transactions can be safely distributed in the network
  and have an attached bounty to make it interesting for third parties
  to monitor on your behalf. When a third party broadcasts the
  anti-cheat they'd assign the bounty to themselves, but would be unable
  to touch the remaining funds.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>My question is, has this ability to broadcast anti-theft transactions to third-parties interested in monitoring the blockchain for theft transactions actually been implemented somehow?  Do the existing Lightning implementations include a protocol for broadcasting anti-theft transactions to third-parties?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-04T18:35:16.940Z
Interesting question and well formulated. I myself made a similar question a few months ago: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/55310/do-parties-in-a-lightning-network-channel-need-to-be-online
Luca Matteis
<lightning-network><watchtower>
Network of 3rd-parties to monitor for Lightning Network theft transactions
Nimrand
# Network of 3rd-parties to monitor for Lightning Network theft transactions

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-01-04)

Whenever the balance of a Lightning channel is updated, the counterparties must revoke the Commitment Transaction reflecting the channel's earlier balance, and sign a new Commitment Transaction with the new balance. If the counterparty attempts to steal funds by broadcasting the revoked transaction to the Bitcoin network, then the other party can broadcast an anti-theft transaction that forfeit's the counterparty's funds.

A common objection I hear from skeptics of the Lightning Network is that, as a consequence of this, you have to be constantly online and monitoring the blockchain to prevent this kind of fraud.

However, as mentioned in [this post](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/46183/does-anyone-get-custodial-control-of-your-funds-when-using-lightning-network/46208#46208), I've heard it proposed a number of times that:

> the anti-cheat transactions can be safely distributed in the network
> and have an attached bounty to make it interesting for third parties
> to monitor on your behalf. When a third party broadcasts the
> anti-cheat they'd assign the bounty to themselves, but would be unable
> to touch the remaining funds.

My question is, has this ability to broadcast anti-theft transactions to third-parties interested in monitoring the blockchain for theft transactions actually been implemented somehow? Do the existing Lightning implementations include a protocol for broadcasting anti-theft transactions to third-parties?

**Tags:** lightning-network, watchtower

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Interesting question and well formulated. I myself made a similar question a few months ago: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/55310/do-parties-in-a-lightning-network-channel-need-to-be-online  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-01-05. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I've asked the Lightning developers on Slack and this was their response:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/zDADh.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/zDADh.png)

Please note that things might change in the future.


---

