Blocktank

• Name: Blocktank
• URL: https://blocktank.to/
• Category: Lightning Service Provider (LSP) / channel-liquidity marketplace / Lightning wallet-and-node control plane
• Tags: bitcoin-ecosystem
• Summary: Blocktank sells Lightning channel liquidity and lifecycle handling through an API. The useful part is still the LSP operating layer — quotes, orders, funding, opening, monitoring, refunds, and remote-node handshakes — not the brand. The named operator boundary above that service packaging now lives in synonym.
• What it does:
  • Lets apps and businesses query Blocktank node/service information and initiate Lightning channel flows through a public API surface
  • Supports channel-order creation, payment, status polling, and channel opening through the published client library flow
  • Exposes LNURL channel-connect flows with order- and callback-specific parameters for tying channel opens to remote nodes
  • Ships an open-source server stack for operators who want to run their own LSP, including workers for order creation, node info, invoice/onchain payment watching, channel opening, expiration handling, admin actions, refunds, and LNURL channel flows
  • Uses a microservice architecture with dedicated Bitcoin and Lightning workers plus router and exchange-rate components rather than a monolithic app
• Key claims:
  • The Blocktank homepage describes Blocktank as Your gateway to the Lightning Network, positioning it as access infrastructure rather than a single wallet product
  • The official API docs say the node/info endpoint returns information about the Blocktank Lightning node and the services on offer
  • The official LNURL docs show a dedicated lnurl/channel endpoint with order_id, k1, and remote_id parameters, which is a strong clue that Blocktank packages channel acquisition and node-connection workflows as a reusable service
  • The lsp-client README describes Blocktank as an LSP that lets businesses, apps, or online platforms integrate, automate, and monetize services from your Lightning node, including channel configuration, channel purchases, and channel info
  • That same client README documents a concrete order flow: fetch node info, create an order, pay via onchain or BOLT11, poll the order, and then open the channel
  • The open-source Blocktank Server README says the project gives operators everything needed to become your own LSP and documents workers for BuyChannel, GetOrder, NodeInfo, FinaliseChannel, LnUrlChannel, channel watchers, expiry handling, and admin close/refund endpoints
  • The server README also makes clear that Blocktank is not just an API wrapper: it coordinates MongoDB state, LND access, Bitcoin and Lightning worker processes, exchange-rate handling, and order lifecycle automation
• Whitepaper: No canonical standalone Blocktank whitepaper or litepaper surfaced in this pass. The clearest current source of truth was the official homepage and API docs plus the first-party lsp-client and lsp-server-old READMEs; see ../whitepapers/blocktank-primary-sources-2026-05-02.md.
• Sources:
  • https://blocktank.to/
  • https://synonym.readme.io/reference/nodeinfo
  • https://synonym.readme.io/reference/lnurlconnect
  • https://raw.githubusercontent.com/synonymdev/lsp-client/master/README.md
  • https://raw.githubusercontent.com/synonymdev/lsp-server-old/master/README.md

Internal linkages

• Standards-layer handshake beneath the same wallet-to-LSP flow: lightning-service-provider-spec.
• Company / operator boundary above the hosted docs, repos, and broader product shell: synonym.
• Strongest broader liquidity-control anchor when the question is swap or inbound-capacity management rather than bought channel inventory: boltz.

Protocol / company boundary

• Keep this note on the LSP control plane itself: quotes, order lifecycle, payment acceptance, node-info publication, remote-node handshakes, channel-open workflow, refund handling, and the server/client architecture behind those actions.
• Use synonym when the sharper question is who packages Blocktank into the broader Bitkit/Pubky/Synonym stack, controls the public docs shell, and decides how this LSP surface is presented and shipped as part of a larger company roadmap.
• That split matters because how does Blocktank sell and manage channel liquidity? and which named operator turns Blocktank into part of a broader Bitcoin product stack? are related but not identical questions.

Control surface

• Practical authority at the product layer sits in quote construction, order lifecycle policy, payment acceptance, remote-node handshake requirements, channel-open defaults, refund and expiry handling, and the admin hooks wrapped around the LSP service.

• The broader operator dependency now sits one layer up in synonym through the docs shell, product packaging, staffing, and company-level roadmap that places Blocktank beside Bitkit, Paykit, and Pubky.

• Read Blocktank as bought-liquidity operating infrastructure, not as a general Lightning backend and not as the whole Synonym story.

• Last reviewed: 2026-08-12 UTC