LND Inbound Liquidity -- How to Get Inbound Capacity

Inbound liquidity lets you receive payments on Lightning. Without it, you can send but not receive.

Why You Need Inbound Liquidity

When you open a channel, all funds start on your side (outbound). To receive payments, the remote side needs funds — that is inbound liquidity.

Methods to Get Inbound Liquidity

1. Spend Outbound Capacity

Make Lightning payments. As you spend sats outbound, your channel balance shifts and remote capacity grows.

2. Ask a Peer to Open a Channel to You

# Share your node URI:
lncli getinfo | grep uri

Connect with routing nodes like ACINQ, LNBig, or LOOP who may open return channels.

3. Use Lightning Loop (Submarine Swap)

loop out --amt 500000
# Moves sats from Lightning to on-chain
# Creates inbound capacity on your channel

4. Liquidity Ads (CLN / LND experimental)

Some nodes offer inbound liquidity for a fee via dual-funded channels. Check Lightning Pool or amboss.space for available offers.

5. Use a LSP (Lightning Service Provider)

Services like Voltage, Breez, or Bitkit offer instant inbound channels, often with a small fee.

Check Your Inbound Capacity

lncli listchannels | python3 -c "
import json,sys
chans=json.load(sys.stdin)['channels']
for c in chans:
    print(c['remote_balance'], c['chan_id'][:8])
"

Troubleshooting: Cannot Receive Payments

- All channels show remote_balance=0: need inbound via Loop or channel request

- Payment fails with FAILURE_NO_ROUTE: sender cannot find path with enough inbound on your end

- Use amboss.space or 1ml.com to check your node's inbound capacity publicly