Closing a channel

Hi!

I am interested in closing a channel that I have balanced with 50% inbound/outbound capacity.
Do I need to rebalance it to have 100% outbound capacity before I close it?

1 Like

There are only few cases when you have to close a channel. Otherwise is just dumb.

  • the other peer is not online/responsive for long time
  • the channel is too small (was open by mistake)
  • you want to shut down totally your node
  • you want to wipe out your node software and data
  • your node is broken and you have to reinstall / recover funds

Yes I want to close it for these 2 reasons:

  • the other peer is not online/responsive for long time
  • the channel is too small (was open by mistake)

So do I need to rebalance it to have 100% outbound capacity before I close it?

no. but if is so small that will not cover the fees, you will end up with nothing.
So be aware.