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 the LSP operating layer — quotes, orders, funding, opening, monitoring, refunds, and remote-node handshakes — not the brand.
• 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

• Stronger liquidity-control anchors when the question is broader swap or inbound-capacity management rather than bought channel inventory: lightning-loop and boltz

• Last reviewed: 2026-05-26 UTC