🚴 Fiber Dev Log 20 🚴
We've been working on making payments, cross-chain swaps, and the dashboard more reliable and maintainable:
・Payment Actor Decoupling
We identified a performance bottleneck in the path routing algorithm that could block the Network Actor. To address this, we moved the send payment logic into a dedicated Payment Actor.
This decoupling ensures that routing and payment execution no longer delay core network message processing. Additionally, we improved the performance of the MPP routing algorithm.
・Cross-Chain Hub (CCH)
CCH has been refactored around a clear FSM-based architecture, making order handling and state transitions deterministic and easier to reason about. Backend-specific effects (Fiber/LND payments, invoice tracking, settlement) are now properly encapsulated and driven by persisted actions instead of ad-hoc handlers.
We also strengthened input validation for cross-chain swaps, adding checks for expiry timing, hash consistency, and invoice compatibility to prevent unsafe or failing swaps early. This improves correctness, reliability, and debuggability across the CCH flow.
・Other improvements
Dashboard backend updated for new frontend structure, more logging added for debugging, and routing logic is being fine-tuned for flexibility and scalability.
Full dev log & PRs here 👇
GitHub
Fiber Dev Log 2025-12-25 · nervosnetwork/fiber · Discussion #1024
CKCon2025 @ Chiang Mai Updates Improvements Dashboard Fiber Dashboard backend updates to align with new frontend requirements, including: table str...
## Why Layer 1 Isn't Enough
We all love Layer 1 blockchains like Bitcoin or CKB for their security, but let's be honest: they aren't exactly built for speed.
Every transaction has to be shouted out to the entire world and written down by thousands of nodes. On CKB, you're waiting about 8 seconds for a block; on Bitcoin, it's 10 minutes! Plus, the fees can get nasty if you're just trying to buy a coffee. ☕️
So how to fix this?
## Lightning Network 101
The Lightning Network is a scalable, low-fee, and instant micro-payment solution for P2P payments.
The secret sauce isn't actually new. Even Satoshi Nakamoto hinted at this "high-frequency" magic in an early email:
"Intermediate transactions do not need to be broadcast. Only the final outcome gets recorded by the network."
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Imagine you and a friend want to trade money back and forth quickly:
1. Opening the Channel: You both put some money into a pot and sign a Funding Tx. This goes on the blockchain (L1).
2. The Fun Part (Off-Chain): Now that the channel is open, you can send money back and forth a million times instantly! You just update the balance sheet between you two (using HTLCs and signatures). No one else needs to know, and no blockchain fees are paid yet.
3. Closing the Channel: When you're done, you agree on the final balance, sign a Shutdown Tx, and tell the blockchain.
Everything in the middle? That's off-chain magic. ✨
## The Power of the Network
Now, if Fiber was just about paying your direct neighbor, it would be boring. The real power comes from the Network.
This means Alice can pay Bob even if there's no direct channel between them. The payment can travel through one or more intermediate nodes. As long as there is a path with enough liquidity, the payment will reach its destination instantly.
All data is wrapped in Onion Packets (yes, like layers of an onion). The nodes in the middle serve as couriers, but they are blindfolded:
- They don't know who sent the money.
- They don't know who is receiving it.
- They only know "pass this to the next guy."
They simply follow a basic rule: they forward the Hash Time Lock, and if the payment succeeds, they earn a tiny fee for their trouble. Easy peasy.
## The Not-So-Easy Part 😅
While the idea is simple, building it is... well, an engineering adventure. We're dealing with cryptography, heavy concurrency, routing algorithms, and a whole jungle of edge cases. But hey, that's what makes it fun!
We've poured the last two years into building Fiber, and I'm proud to say it’s finally GA-ready.
If you want to geek out on the details, check these out:
- Mastering the Lightning Network (
