Lightning
Channels
What Lightning payment channels are and how Phoenix reduces the manual work.
A payment channel is a shared balance between two Lightning participants, backed by a Bitcoin transaction. Payments shift that balance rather than creating a new on-chain transaction each time.
How Phoenix handles channels
Phoenix abstracts much of the channel-management complexity from normal wallet usage: channels are opened and adjusted as your usage requires, rather than being configured by hand. Channel operations still touch the Bitcoin blockchain, so they can carry a cost, which the application shows.
Direction matters
A channel's balance determines how much you can send and how much you can receive. That is described in the next page on liquidity.