Amboss Technologies has unveiled Magma AI, a machine-learning tool that refines how nodes on the Bitcoin Lightning Network connect and allocate capital. BitcoinNews spoke with Jesse Shrader, CEO and Co-founder of Amboss, to understand why this matters.
The world of instant payments, powered by Bitcoin’s second-layer protocol, is growing. Yet node operators still struggle to know which connections will serve them best. Amboss set out to address this challenge.
“If you ask them to make the best selection out of 16,000 nodes, they’re not going to be able to do that with as much effectiveness as an actual AI that’s dedicated to solving that particular problem,” Shrader said. He explained that Magma AI can think at a scale no human can match.
“We wanted to bring real intelligence to the Lightning Network’s channel selection process. That’s what Magma AI does. It learns, adapts, and drives more efficient capital allocation to supercharge the network’s capabilities.”
Related: Potentials and Challenges of Lightning Network Adoption | Report
This new tool comes at a critical time when the Lightning Network’s importance is increasingly clear. The market needs both broad network improvements and targeted solutions for professional operators. Magma AI meets both needs. It has two distinct modes.
“Altruistic mode we built really for the people who wanted to help the network as much as possible,” Shrader noted, highlighting that some node operators seek to enhance the entire ecosystem.
There’s also a tailored mode for serious enterprises. “For businesses that need strong Service Level Agreements (SLAs), optimized mode helps drive professional-grade performance.”
By releasing Magma AI, Amboss aims to improve reliability and throughput for everyone — from small operators and large enterprises to future machine-based agents that will never open traditional bank accounts.
These bots can’t sign up for a Wells Fargo account, but they can post bitcoin bounties. It seems plausible to envision a future where machines transact seamlessly, thanks to tools like Bitcoin, Lightning, and potentially Magma AI.
Some critics fairly argue that the Lightning Network lacks sufficient total value locked (TVL) to be truly effective. However, Shrader made compelling points about why metrics like total value locked are not the best indicators of Lightning’s potential.
“You wouldn’t evaluate the health of a transportation network by the number of cars on the road,” he said. People should care about how quickly and smoothly payments reach their destinations.
Bitcoin’s base layer can be used for larger payments. Lightning has plenty of other use cases, such as streaming payments, zapping people on Nostr, and many others.
Amboss actually offers a wide range of tools that allow people to see what others are doing on the Lightning Network. Magma AI hopes to help ensure that nodes aren’t wasting time and capital, but instead get smarter connections, stronger liquidity, and stable performance.
Collecting metrics is an excellent way to gain insights into a system. Feeding these insights into an AI to improve said system seems promising.
While it’s a bit more complicated than that, Magma AI appears to be working towards this goal.
It’s an exciting time as Amboss looks to combine machine learning with Bitcoin’s fast layer-2 solution, Lightning, ultimately forging a system that’s more flexible, private, and powerful than before.
One of the most compelling things Jesse noted while discussing the Bitcoin network broadly was:
“I love having just the words in my head and I can cross borders with it and there’s no actual physical trace that any transaction has happened. It really just is information and I think that’s one of Bitcoin’s most powerful features, that you can send it over an email.”
His words capture the moment. Here is a technology that can enable human flourishing, allowing people to transport their wealth with just 12 simple words.
It’s exciting to see Amboss guide the Lightning Network’s growth, serving both altruists and profit-seekers to prepare the world for a future where payments happen at lightning speed, assuming they can be done on the lightning network.
If you are interested in using Amboss to improve your own lightning channel management you can find them at https://amboss.space/
