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Encyclopedia Upgrades and scaling · Entry 207

Lightning invoices: amount, expiry and payment status

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Upgrades and scaling
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3 cited records
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Key facts

Key facts for Lightning invoices: amount, expiry and payment status
FactDetailSource
AmountMay be fixed or unspecified[1]
ExpiryMeasured from the invoice creation time[1]
Payment evidenceRequires more than displaying the request[1]
01

Check the wallet’s decoded request

The invoice’s encoded units and prefixes are for software to parse. Use the wallet’s readable amount and network display instead of guessing from the string. An amountless invoice asks the payer to choose an amount; it does not mean that the payment must be zero.

A description can explain what is being paid for, but treat it as supplied content. Match the request to the intended recipient through the channel you already trust.

02

An expiry is a deadline for starting payment

Imagine an invoice created at 12:00 UTC with an explicit expiry of 900 seconds. Its new-payment window ends at 12:15 UTC. BOLT 11 specifies a one-hour default when its expiry field is absent; wallets may include their own explicit value.

An attempt already in progress can remain unresolved beyond an interface timer. Inspect its final status before requesting or paying a replacement, so a delayed success does not become an unintended second payment.

03

Request a fresh invoice for a separate purchase

Ordinary BOLT 11 invoices are not a general reusable donation address. BOLT 12 identifies invoice reuse and repeated attempts as limitations addressed by an offer-and-invoice-request flow. Use the recipient’s supported reusable mechanism when that is what you need.

A signed invoice plus its matching payment preimage can provide evidence that the invoice was paid. That evidence alone does not prove which person paid it; the recipient also knows the preimage.

Direct answers

Questions people ask

Can a Lightning invoice leave the amount open?

Yes. BOLT 11 permits the amount to be omitted, and the wallet should tell the payer that it is unspecified. Confirm the chosen amount before authorizing payment.

Does an expired invoice mean a pending payment definitely failed?

No. Invoice expiry and the final state of an already dispatched payment are separate. Check the wallet’s recorded payment status before paying again.

Inspect the evidence

The answer and key facts have stable claim links. These records retain the scope and qualification when reused.

A Lightning invoice is a payment request that a compatible wallet can decode and pay. The BOLT 11 format includes a network, payment hash, creation time, signature and other fields; the amount can be unspecified. Expiry limits when a new attempt should begin. An invoice is not proof that money arrived, and its signature does not by itself establish a merchant’s real-world identity.

Educational explanation. Product-specific behavior is scoped to the cited documentation, checked 2026-10-02.

Scope: Bitcoin · data through 2026-10-02. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T19:29:20.637Z.

Link to this claim
Amount: May be fixed or unspecified

Scope: Bitcoin · data through 2026-10-02. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T19:29:20.637Z.

Link to this claim
Expiry: Measured from the invoice creation time

Scope: Bitcoin · data through 2026-10-02. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T19:29:20.637Z.

Link to this claim
Payment evidence: Requires more than displaying the request

Scope: Bitcoin · data through 2026-10-02. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T19:29:20.637Z.

Link to this claim
Revision history
  1. — First publication after primary-source research and separate automated verification.

Source register

Sources and references

Retrieval dates and locators are recorded individually.
  1. BOLT 11: Invoice Protocol for Lightning PaymentsLightning specification contributors

    Invoice amounts, payment hashes, expiry, signing and feature constraints.

    Locator: Human-Readable Part; Data Part; Tagged Fields; Payer / Payee Interactions; Payer / Payee Requirements · Version / scope: Pinned BOLTs revision · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T18:53:57.096ZOpen source
  2. Sending PaymentsLightning Labs

    LND initiated/in-flight/succeeded/failed statuses and safe retry semantics.

    Locator: Pathfinding; Dispatching Payments; Payment Fees; Monitoring Payments · Version / scope: Pinned Lightning Labs documentation revision; LND/Loop implementation scope · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T18:53:57.437ZOpen source
  3. BOLT 12: Negotiation Protocol for Lightning PaymentsLightning specification contributors

    Reusable offers produce separate invoice requests and authenticated invoices.

    Locator: Limitations of BOLT 11; Payment Flow Scenarios; Offers; Invoice Requests; Invoices; Payer Proofs · Version / scope: Pinned BOLTs revision · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T18:53:57.136ZOpen source
How this article was made

Research and drafting use AI assistance. A separate automated review checks claims against primary sources; no external expert or named human review is implied. Publication, substantive editing, source retrieval and verification are recorded separately. This version was independently checked by an automated reviewer on 2 October 2026.

Editorial method and corrections

Degrees of Satoshi editorial project. “Lightning invoices: amount, expiry and payment status.” Published 2026-10-02; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/lightning-invoices/