New Lightning Network Authentication System Might Be Used Instead of Website Accounts

Blockchain company Lightning Labs created the specifications of a new Lightning Network-based authentication system which could replace standard email-based accounts.

A March 30 announcement states that the Lightning Service Authentication Tokens (LSAT) are a basis for a new authentication protocol for paid services provided by the network. The system distributes Lightning-based tokens to users after they paid for the service in Bitcoin (BTC) instead of entering their personal information for standard email-based accounts.

The Lightning Tokens are used as tickets for the purchased resources and carry information about the resource it grants access to. The tokens can be exchanged, revoked and modified after being issued. LSAT also allows for applications which charge users on an ongoing basis for resources instead of periodic upfront payments.

The forgotten status code

LSAT uses the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) status code 402 in order to warn the user’s web browser that it’s time to pay for access to the service. While developers are familiar with status codes such as 404, which is sent when a client is requesting a resource which is not found on the server, has not been used often. Mozilla notes that it has no standard use convention. The announcement details:

“As the name entails, this code is returned when a client attempts to access a resource that they haven’t paid for yet. In most versions of the HTTP specification, this code is marked as being ‘reserved for future use.’ Many speculate that it was intended to be used by some sort of digital cash or micropayment scheme, which didn’t yet exist at the time of the initial HTTP specification drafting.”

Lightning Labs note that now digital cash exist in the form of Bitcoin, so the status code may be used according to its purpose. The implementation of the system of this kind could create a seamless way to pay for and immediately access web services without common accounts. The announcemet explains how a web with such integration could work:

“In this new web, email addresses and passwords are a thing of the past. Instead cryptographic bearer credentials are purchased and presented by users to access services and resources. In this new web, credit cards no longer serve as a gatekeeper to all the amazing experiences that have been created on the web.”

The promises of web 3.0

Many in the blockchain industry support the rise of web 3.0 technology as it is considered to be the way to more democratic, open and private internet. Moreover, web 3.0 developments can also push cryptocurrency adoption to new heights.

In March, the Web3 foundation issued a grant to interoperability project Interlay for bringing Bitcoin on the Polkadot platform.