Lightning, channels, DLCs, and layered systems

Understand off-chain enforcement and its on-chain escape hatches.

Follow these 8 lessons in order, or choose the topic you need. Each lesson combines an explanation, a worked example and practice inside the Guild.

1. Payment channels

   Pre-signed state updates let parties transact off chain while retaining an enforceable on-chain settlement path.

   35 minutes · Open lesson

2. Lightning commitments

   Revocable commitments, HTLCs, timelocks, and justice or replacement mechanisms manage unilateral closes.

   45 minutes · Open lesson

3. Routing and liquidity

   Multi-hop payments use onion routing and conditional transfers but depend on directional channel liquidity.

   55 minutes · Open lesson

4. Watchtowers and backups

   Offline protection and channel-state recovery address different failure modes and have distinct trust assumptions.

   65 minutes · Open lesson

5. DLCs

   Discreet Log Contracts use oracle attestations and adaptor signatures so outcomes settle without revealing the full contract logic on chain.

   35 minutes · Open lesson

6. Federations and sidechains

   Pegged systems trade different custody, consensus, and exit assumptions for additional functionality.

   45 minutes · Open lesson

7. Ark and shared UTXOs

   Emerging protocols explore coordinated UTXO ownership and efficient exits with new availability assumptions.

   55 minutes · Open lesson

8. Layer comparison

   Experts compare custody, unilateral exit, data availability, capital efficiency, privacy, and failure recovery rather than relying on labels.

   65 minutes · Open lesson