PLEBNET for plebs

Getting Started

You need a Lightning Network node and Telegram in order join PLEBNET.

Node

There's several newbie options for getting a Lightning node set up and running.

• BTC SESSIONS has a good video walkthrough for getting started with Raspberry Pi and Umbrel
• Umbrel is a newbie-friendly package that runs on Raspberry Pi v4+
• RaspbiBlitz is another option for Raspberry Pi
• Start9 is an all-in-one option that includes the necessary hardware
• myNode is another all-in-one with hardware
• RaspiBolt has some good information on how to set up the necessary services manually

Telegram

PLEBNET discussion and coordination happens on the Telegram chat platform.

Download the Telegram app and join the PLEBNET group.

CheeseRobot ₿

A Telegram bot that will allow you to join and interact with the PLEBNET.

You'll want to send a message to @cheeserobot to claim and add your node. Start with /claim and follow the instructions to get add your node id. Then, in the PLEBNET channel, use /id@cheeserobot to get yourself added to the graph.

Opening Channels

Add Liquidity

Generate a Lightning wallet and add some funds so that you can open channels. Keep in mind that PLEBNET prefers girthy channels, so fund your node accordingly.

Find nodes in PLEBNET Telegram group

You'll need to find some other nodes in PLEBNET to open channels with.

You can go to http://graph.kycjelly.com/ to see the current visual graph of nodes, or type /graph@cheeserobot group in the PLEBNET chat. /groupnodes@cheeserobot will output a list of the 50 most recent members and nodes. You can contact plebs form the graph or list and see if they'd like to open a channel.

You can also just ask in the PLEBNET channel if anyone is interested in opening a channel with you.

Keep It Girthy

It's best to have fewer big channels with more sats than it is to have many smaller ones. The recommended minimum channel size is 2 million sats, which would be 1 million per node on the channel.

Balanced Channels

The idea is to have balanced channels. This means that there is an equal amount of sats between each node on the channel.

For example, if Node A opens a channel with Node B for 2m sats, it will start entirely on their end. Node A will want to find a way to have 1m sats on each side of the channel.

There are several different ways to accomplish this.

"Ghetto Submarine Swap"

ONLY DO THIS WITH ESTABLISHED AND TRUSTED PLEBNET NODES! IT IS POSSIBLE TO LOSE SATS DOING THIS.

1. Node A opens a channel with X sats
2. Node B sends a Lightning invoice for half of the amount X sats that was opened on the channel
3. The Node A operator sends the address of their preferred on-chain Bitcoin wallet to the operator of Node B
4. The Node B operator sends half of the amount X sats of the opened channel to the Bitcoin wallet of the operator of Node A from step 3
5. Node A pays the Lightning invoice