{"id":"00ef0e7c-cb89-4d26-8360-5677b84d2e0a","arxiv_id":"1908.00432","paper_version":1,"verdict":"CONDITIONAL","confidence":"MODERATE","novelty_score":5.0,"correctness_risk":"medium","formal_verification":"none","parameter_count":0,"one_line_summary":"For a single payment channel, no randomized or deterministic online algorithm is competitive, and matching the offline optimum requires at least n-2 advice bits.","lead":"This paper proves that a central payment service provider managing a single payment channel cannot guarantee a good fraction of accepted transactions when transactions arrive online, even with randomization or up to nearly double the capital. It matters because it sets hard theoretical limits on layer-2 payment hub designs that promise high throughput without knowing future transactions.","discovery_kind":"extension","skeptic_critique":null,"referee_report":null,"author_rebuttal":null,"desk_editor":null,"rs_alignment":null,"lean_confirmation":null,"pith_extraction":null,"created_at":"2026-08-14T16:00:43.778345+00:00","model_set":{"reader":"deepseek-v4-flash"},"falsifier":null,"supporting_citations":[],"review_version":1}