Lightning Labs Opens Wavelength on Mainnet With a 300,000-Satoshi Account Limit
Key Facts
Lightning Labs announced on October 23 that Wavelength was available to everyone on the Bitcoin mainnet, expanding access that began by invitation when alpha launched in July. The tool lets people and agents send and receive Bitcoin, according to the company. An agent can hold a balance and use it to pay for an API call, data feed or service provided by another agent. Lightning Labs said these payments do not require human approval for each transaction. The release sets balance limits and disclosed fees, while the company said the product remains in alpha.
The maximum mainnet account balance is 300,000 satoshis, while each individual VTXO is capped at 50,000 satoshis, according to the company’s announcement. This distinguishes the total account limit from the cap applied to each VTXO unit. These figures give users and developers clear limits on the balances available in the current release. For Lightning payments, the service fee is 0.25% for both sending and receiving, in addition to the network’s usual routing fees. The cost of a payment is therefore not limited to the service fee alone, according to the terms of use announced by Lightning Labs.
Transfers between the Bitcoin blockchain and Wavelength carry a variable service fee that the company describes as typically low at current network fee levels. The usual Bitcoin network fee is added to deposits, while users pay only the network fee when exiting on their own. Lightning Labs says using the tool does not require running a Lightning node, managing channels or arranging liquidity. The company said users retain their wallet keys and can move their balances to the Bitcoin blockchain at any time without permission. It added that the coordination service has no sole control over users’ funds.
To preserve the ability to exit on their own, funds need to be refreshed quickly about every two weeks, according to the company. The wallet performs this update automatically and for free if it is opened during the update window in each cycle. The release adds wallet recovery from a recovery phrase, prevents a retry from paying the amount twice, and handles interruptions during an exit. Lightning Labs says applications and agents can be granted permission to receive payments only, without the ability to sign transactions, recover the wallet or manage it. This permission separates receiving funds from controlling the wallet, according to the company’s description of the feature.
Part of Wavelength’s use for paid services is based on the open L402 protocol, which lets APIs charge satoshis per request and authenticate through Lightning. An agent can pay when requesting a service without registration or an API key, according to Lightning Labs. The company’s documentation describes L402 through an HTTP 402 “Payment Required” response containing a Lightning invoice, after which the client proves payment to access the digital resource. In July, the company made the tool available to everyone on Signet and Testnet, while keeping mainnet access invitation-only. It said at the time that it was working to expand availability in a later release, which it did with its October announcement.
For next steps, Lightning Labs said support for stablecoins through Taproot Assets is coming soon, allowing applications to use the same simple command interface for Bitcoin and stablecoins. Future releases also include mobile support and work on balances in Lightning channels to enable small payments through LND implementation. The company did not specify a timeline for these additions in the launch information available. Wavelength remains an alpha release, according to the company, with disclosed balance limits and separate fees depending on transaction type. BTC/USD closed at $80,150.56 on October 26 and $80,461.29 on October 27, according to EL7 data.