<p>No, there is no definitive way to detect the source of a payment on the Lightning Network.</p>
<p>However, there exists techniques (either active or passive, such as probing or some heuristics) which may be used to try to deanonymize parties involved in a payment.</p>
<p>So, while you can't reliably identify a party, you cannot assume it's totally anonymous either.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-04T17:12:51.957Z
Appreciate the quick response. I ask because i'm in the late stages of building this www.satoshie.com ... and I cannot figure out a frictionless way to do payouts ... am I down the creek w/o a paddle?
Nelson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-04T17:16:34.363Z
Looks like we are starting a back-and-forth conversation, you may want to join #lightning-dev on Freenode :-) To answer with another question: why do you need refund informations to be based on the Lightning Network ? EDIT: if you come at freenode feel free to ping me, same pseudo there
Antoine Poinsot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-04T17:18:52.203Z
thanks, will join there. The site is based on micropayments (being able to place a bet of say 1 cents, on chain that would not be possible). Do you have an alternate in mind?
Nelson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-04T17:23:29.380Z
(Not a web dev, it might be a bad idea). Can't you just use session ids / cookies stuff to identify who's owned a refund ? And have a page asking them for an invoice in order to get refunded ? As you go, might be worth adding a basic accounting system too.
Antoine Poinsot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-04T17:09:30.010Z
2020-09-04T17:09:30.010Z
Antoine Poinsot
<p>I see the preimage, hash, and payment request but all of those are transaction specific and unrepeatable. Any idea how it would be possible to send back the other way without knowing the individual?</p>

<lightning-network>
If I receive a LN payment from an anon sender... is there a way to send back to this individual?
Nelson
# If I receive a LN payment from an anon sender... is there a way to send back to this individual?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-04)

I see the preimage, hash, and payment request but all of those are transaction specific and unrepeatable. Any idea how it would be possible to send back the other way without knowing the individual?

**Tags:** lightning-network


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-09-04. Score: 1

No, there is no definitive way to detect the source of a payment on the Lightning Network.

However, there exists techniques (either active or passive, such as probing or some heuristics) which may be used to try to deanonymize parties involved in a payment.

So, while you can't reliably identify a party, you cannot assume it's totally anonymous either.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Appreciate the quick response. I ask because i'm in the late stages of building this www.satoshie.com ... and I cannot figure out a frictionless way to do payouts ... am I down the creek w/o a paddle?  
> **username_1**: Looks like we are starting a back-and-forth conversation, you may want to join #lightning-dev on Freenode :-) To answer with another question: why do you need refund informations to be based on the Lightning Network ? EDIT: if you come at freenode feel free to ping me, same pseudo there  
> **username_0**: thanks, will join there. The site is based on micropayments (being able to place a bet of say 1 cents, on chain that would not be possible). Do you have an alternate in mind?  
> **username_1**: (Not a web dev, it might be a bad idea). Can't you just use session ids / cookies stuff to identify who's owned a refund ? And have a page asking them for an invoice in order to get refunded ? As you go, might be worth adding a basic accounting system too.  

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