<p>The goal was to limit the amount any individual adopter would lose due to bugs in the software. As explained by LN developer Rusty Russell in <a href="https://rusty-lightning.medium.com/bitcoin-lightning-faq-why-the-0-042-bitcoin-limit-2eb48b703f3" rel="noreferrer">#bitcoin-lightning FAQ: Why the 0.042 bitcoin limit?</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I <strong>guarantee</strong> that early releases of lightning clients will have bugs
and <strong>people will lose money</strong> because of them. […] I sleep better at
night knowing that, if you lose money because of my bug, I can buy you
a beer/coffee in exchange for your story and we’re about even. (emphasis in original)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This answer was sourced entirely from <a href="https://bitcoinops.org/en/topics/large-channels/" rel="noreferrer">Bitcoin Optech: Large Channels</a> where you can find even more resources on this topic.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-22T09:00:47.683Z
2023-06-22T09:00:47.683Z
Vojtěch Strnad
<p>I assume this default limit of 2^24 is set by some purpose in <a href="https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/02-peer-protocol.md" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BOLT #2</a>. But what's the meaning of that? Or is there any test/experiment to support this number?</p>

<lightning-network><lightning-rfc>
Why is the default LN channel limit set to 16777215 sats?
Jeffrey Hu
# Why is the default LN channel limit set to 16777215 sats?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-06-22)

I assume this default limit of 2^24 is set by some purpose in [BOLT #2](https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/02-peer-protocol.md). But what's the meaning of that? Or is there any test/experiment to support this number?

**Tags:** lightning-network, lightning-rfc


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-06-22. Score: 6

The goal was to limit the amount any individual adopter would lose due to bugs in the software. As explained by LN developer Rusty Russell in [#bitcoin-lightning FAQ: Why the 0.042 bitcoin limit?](https://rusty-lightning.medium.com/bitcoin-lightning-faq-why-the-0-042-bitcoin-limit-2eb48b703f3):

> I **guarantee** that early releases of lightning clients will have bugs
> and **people will lose money** because of them. […] I sleep better at
> night knowing that, if you lose money because of my bug, I can buy you
> a beer/coffee in exchange for your story and we’re about even. (emphasis in original)

This answer was sourced entirely from [Bitcoin Optech: Large Channels](https://bitcoinops.org/en/topics/large-channels/) where you can find even more resources on this topic.


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