<p>Any output in a commitment transaction, not only HTLCs, may have a value below the dust limit. Any output whose value would be below the dust limit does not get created in the commitment transaction. This has the effect of adding the output's value to transaction fees. As HTLCs get resolved in a second-stage transaction, the output must not be created if any output of any second-stage transaction would be below the dust limit. See the <a href="https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/03-transactions.md#trimmed-outputs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;Trimmed Outputs&quot; section of BOLT #3</a>.</p>
<p>Payments below dust cannot be enforced onchain. Note however it's the case for any uneconomical output. An HTLC output whose value is above dust but below what it would cost in transaction fees to claim onchain is likewise unenforceable.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-27T12:39:57.807Z
How can I do 10sat payments through the LN then?
polespinasa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-27T13:31:47.763Z
@polespinasa as a user you wouldn't see a difference. Under the hood, as described in my answer, each hop would add it to fees instead of creating an HTLC in their commitment transaction pair.
Antoine Poinsot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-19T08:40:23.000Z
2024-06-19T08:40:23.000Z
Antoine Poinsot
<p>What happens if the HTLC value is less than the dust limit?
Logic tells me that you cannot create an HTLC output because the transaction would be rarely propagated.
How do you make multi-hop payments of small value then?</p>

<lightning-network><hash-time-locked-contract><dust>
What happens if HTLC value is below dust limit
polespinasa
# What happens if HTLC value is below dust limit

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-06-18)

What happens if the HTLC value is less than the dust limit?
Logic tells me that you cannot create an HTLC output because the transaction would be rarely propagated.
How do you make multi-hop payments of small value then?

**Tags:** lightning-network, hash-time-locked-contract, dust


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-06-19. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Any output in a commitment transaction, not only HTLCs, may have a value below the dust limit. Any output whose value would be below the dust limit does not get created in the commitment transaction. This has the effect of adding the output's value to transaction fees. As HTLCs get resolved in a second-stage transaction, the output must not be created if any output of any second-stage transaction would be below the dust limit. See the ["Trimmed Outputs" section of BOLT #3](https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/03-transactions.md#trimmed-outputs).

Payments below dust cannot be enforced onchain. Note however it's the case for any uneconomical output. An HTLC output whose value is above dust but below what it would cost in transaction fees to claim onchain is likewise unenforceable.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: How can I do 10sat payments through the LN then?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 as a user you wouldn't see a difference. Under the hood, as described in my answer, each hop would add it to fees instead of creating an HTLC in their commitment transaction pair.  

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