Depots: Theft-Proof, Self-Custodial Bitcoin For Billions Of Users

The development of a protocol that facilitates the automatic rollover of funds from one timeout tree to another without user intervention marks a significant advancement in operational efficiency. This protocol, however, does not extend to depots due to the necessity for users to actively provide specific security information. This requirement includes supplying an adaptor for the index signature used as a salt value, essential for revoking a channel and enabling the draining process from the depot. These details have been thoroughly documented in the Limitations section of the relevant paper.

Moreover, the paper outlines strategies whereby users can preemptively initiate the draining of funds from their depots well before the expiry date, such as 2.5 months prior, thereby mitigating the risk of stranding capital. This proactive measure also allows for the reallocation of user funds to other users who may have a greater need for immediate availability, despite the shorter window available for fund drainage.

Additionally, it is proposed that wallet software could be enhanced to support automated fund rollover in collaboration with the operator before a depot's expiration, provided the user has not already done so manually. To maintain their funds securely in a depot, users are required to keep track of several elements: the identity of both the depot (through its Funding transaction) and the operator, critical depot parameters like griefing security measures, to_self_delay, expiry, and the allocation of the user's channel, and specifics for each active channel including the user’s guess, the guess index, the index signature, the adaptor for the index signature, and the latest Lightning channel state. Such meticulous record-keeping is crucial for ensuring the integrity and accessibility of the user's funds within the network.