Amadeus on Nostr: running a routing node as a Tor hidden service introduces 6 hops between the client ...
running a routing node as a Tor hidden service introduces 6 hops between the client and service. the increased latency, timeouts, and failure rates associated with just these 6 hops has been enough for routing nodes to forego allocating liquidity and serving clients over Tor
if the average number of routing node hops per lightning payment is something like 3-6, and if all routing nodes in the chain were to run as a hidden service instead of clearnet (which i think Leo is proposing here), then all of a sudden that's 18-36 hops, which would dramatically increase latency, timeouts, and failed requests
that said, just because there's an ungodly amount of hops doesn't mean it's not feasible. there's just no commercial incentive today since the market is so niche and operating an LSP - even over clearnet - hasn't been a particularly lucrative endeavor to date
congestion among the Tor network is also a factor, but incentivizing folks to run more Tor nodes would introduce a new set of regulatory risks that doesn't exist today, and i'm dubious that there exists a strong enough commercial incentive in the near-term
if the average number of routing node hops per lightning payment is something like 3-6, and if all routing nodes in the chain were to run as a hidden service instead of clearnet (which i think Leo is proposing here), then all of a sudden that's 18-36 hops, which would dramatically increase latency, timeouts, and failed requests
that said, just because there's an ungodly amount of hops doesn't mean it's not feasible. there's just no commercial incentive today since the market is so niche and operating an LSP - even over clearnet - hasn't been a particularly lucrative endeavor to date
congestion among the Tor network is also a factor, but incentivizing folks to run more Tor nodes would introduce a new set of regulatory risks that doesn't exist today, and i'm dubious that there exists a strong enough commercial incentive in the near-term