Routing

In plain words

You rarely have a channel open with the person you're paying. Routing chains channels together: your payment hops node to node until it lands. Each hop is wrapped like an onion — every node learns only the previous step and the next, not the source, destination, or purpose. And no hop is trusted: cryptography ties the whole path together so it either completes end-to-end or every hop unwinds. Middlemen earn routing fees measured in fractions of a cent.

Why it matters

• Payments reach anyone on the network, not just your direct partners.
• All-or-nothing hops mean routers move your money without ever holding it.
• Onion wrapping keeps your business yours, even mid-route.

Go deeper

• BOLT 4 — the onion routing specification.
• Payment channels
• Liquidity