Introducing Subaccounts in Alby Hub
The Benefits of the Uncle Jim Model
With regulatory uncertainty shaking the bitcoin ecosystem, more people are moving to self-custodial wallets like Alby Hub to maintain sovereignty over their money. This is, after all, why we choose bitcoin. Running your own node is getting easier by the day, but it's still not for everyone. One of the ways the bitcoin community came up with to overcome challenges and costs to node running is organizing individuals into the "Uncle Jim" model.
The "Uncle Jim" represents an approach, where a tech-savvy individual, dubbed "Uncle Jim," operates a bitcoin lightning node to support friends and family with less technical prowess. In this role, Uncle Jim manages a "plebs private bank" - running a lightning node for himself and his friends, maintaining liquidity for his "family". He sets up necessary hardware and software, advises on mobile devices, and creates a local financial network that promotes financial sovereignty and privacy. This involvement not only boosts bitcoin's adoption and utility but also furthers the decentralization and resilience of the network, trust and support within small communities. Jims equip their peers with reliable technology and education, enhancing network decentralization and stability.
How do Subaccounts work in Alby Hub?
Subaccounts allow users to continue using bitcoin on the lightning network natively without their own channels and liquidity management. Just released in Alby Hub, subaccounts allow Hub runners to share liquidity with friends and family using a simple NWC connection.💡This gives recipients instant access to NWC apps such as Damus, Amethyst, and even the Alby Browser Extension, or Alby Go, the simplest NWC-powered lightning wallet for your phone.
Unlike standard NWC connections, subaccounts are completely isolated from the overall spending balance. They use the node's liquidity, but have their own balance which must be topped up before it can be spent.
What can you do with Subaccounts?
Thousands of Alby Hub runners may share their Hub through subaccounts with their friends. The Friends & Family app in the App Store of your Hub makes the management super simple. The end result being a much higher level of decentralization on the lightning network than we have today, while still allowing seamless onboarding of new users without them having to understand about channels, liquidity, or even the first thing about bitcoin or lightning.
Subaccounts can also be used to better manage your activity and balances across apps - you'll only see transactions made by that app rather than your entire wallet, and since NWC allows apps to not just pay, but receive - you can easily see earnings from your activity on a single app.
Would you be happy to manage liquidity for your friends and family, or just more easily manage your balances across apps? 👉 Try out Alby Hub and let us know what you think!
Stay tuned for further blog posts as we explore how current Alby Hub users make use of subaccounts.