<p>A paper wallet is not the correct backup method for a lightning network Bitcoin address/channel.</p>

<p>To use a lightning network channel, you will need to have the private keys accessible to your lightning network software, so that the software can sign transactions to update the channel state. So the advantage of 'keeping your keys offline using a paper wallet' is not applicable: if your keys are offline, you cannot engage with the lightning network.</p>

<p>Further, to backup a lightning channel, you need more information than just the keypairs associated with the address, you also need information about the current state of the channel. A paper wallet generally refers to a physical record of a single keypair, so it is not designed to store this sort of channel-state information. </p>

<p>Further still, a lightning channel is represented by a multi-sig address, of which you will likely know only one of two (or more) keys. So printing out your key onto paper will be of very little use in being able to recover your funds later, since you will need the signatures of your counterparty's keys as well, in order to spend the multisig output. </p>

<p>I suppose if you really wanted to, you could print out the static channel backup file onto paper, but without a good way to later transcribe this information back to your computer, it seems like an unwise choice that will be prone to error. </p>

<p><strong>It is advisable to follow the backup methods implemented in the popular lightning network clients</strong>, such as <code>lnd</code>'s static channel backups. Here are the relevant commands, from <code>lnd v0.6.0</code></p>

<pre><code>exportchanbackup   Obtain a static channel back up for a selected channels, or all known channels
verifychanbackup   Verify an existing channel backup
restorechanbackup  Restore an existing single or multi-channel static channel backup
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T21:39:01.813Z
So in order to have lightning bitcoins, you need to have a computer that is always on connected to the internet? I was thinking of how a bitcoin paper wallet works where i can just store the coins there and not worry about it.
Patoshi パトシ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T22:07:37.607Z
Yes in order to utilize a lightning channel, your keys need to be online.
chytrik
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T21:36:18.753Z
2019-05-21T21:36:18.753Z
chytrik
<p>Is there a paper wallet generator for a Bitcoin Lightning addresses? How can one generate it in javascript?</p>

<lightning-network>
How does one generate a paper wallet for a Lightning Bitcoin address?
Patoshi パトシ
# How does one generate a paper wallet for a Lightning Bitcoin address?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-21)

Is there a paper wallet generator for a Bitcoin Lightning addresses? How can one generate it in javascript?

**Tags:** lightning-network


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-05-21. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

A paper wallet is not the correct backup method for a lightning network Bitcoin address/channel.
To use a lightning network channel, you will need to have the private keys accessible to your lightning network software, so that the software can sign transactions to update the channel state. So the advantage of 'keeping your keys offline using a paper wallet' is not applicable: if your keys are offline, you cannot engage with the lightning network.
Further, to backup a lightning channel, you need more information than just the keypairs associated with the address, you also need information about the current state of the channel. A paper wallet generally refers to a physical record of a single keypair, so it is not designed to store this sort of channel-state information. 
Further still, a lightning channel is represented by a multi-sig address, of which you will likely know only one of two (or more) keys. So printing out your key onto paper will be of very little use in being able to recover your funds later, since you will need the signatures of your counterparty's keys as well, in order to spend the multisig output. 
I suppose if you really wanted to, you could print out the static channel backup file onto paper, but without a good way to later transcribe this information back to your computer, it seems like an unwise choice that will be prone to error. 
It is advisable to follow the backup methods implemented in the popular lightning network clients, such as lnd's static channel backups. Here are the relevant commands, from lnd v0.6.0
exportchanbackup   Obtain a static channel back up for a selected channels, or all known channels
verifychanbackup   Verify an existing channel backup
restorechanbackup  Restore an existing single or multi-channel static channel backup

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So in order to have lightning bitcoins, you need to have a computer that is always on connected to the internet? I was thinking of how a bitcoin paper wallet works where i can just store the coins there and not worry about it.  
> **username_1**: Yes in order to utilize a lightning channel, your keys need to be online.  

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