Nayuta Claims Its Android Lightning Wallet Is the First to Build in a Bitcoin Full Node

Japan-based startup Nayuta has released what it says is the first lightning network wallet with a built-in bitcoin "Full node."

With the new Nayuta Android app, users can tap into the new payment system in one of two ways: by using the baked-in bitcoin "Full node" for added security or they can switch to a "SPV" version, which isn't quite as secure, but takes up much less space on the phone.

Nayuta claims it is the first developer to add a full node to its wallet, making the esoteric sovereignty-preserving technology a bit easier to use.

"Using a full node is the only way to really know if you received bitcoin, if you don't use a full node you are always trusting somebody to a degree, whether that would be the wallet company's node or the miners," said Christian Moss, Nayuta's mobile app developer.

Making a full node easy to run has long been a primary goal for many bitcoin developers.

"For day-to-day, it is definitely more convenient and practical to use the wallet without the full node. However, it is important to have the full node available in case the network were attacked in a similar fashion to Segwit2x with miners producing invalid blocks," Moss said.

In addition to allowing users to choose either a full node or a SPV node running in the background, there's a third "Hybrid" mode, which allows the wallet to automatically bounce between the two.

"In the bitcoin space, only a fully [validating] node is the perfect solution for self-sovereignty. On the other hand, the SPV node is superior for storage size, internet connection bandwidth, and power consumption. We think that there may exist a new good solution to this trade-off problem. Nayuta mobile wallet hybrid mode is one such solution," he said.

Moss is optimistic it will only get easier to run a bitcoin full node on a mobile device over time.

"Whilst this current implementation of a full node lightning wallet is not as super user-friendly we think that research and development in this direction is a no-brainer for bitcoin. [In] the future, as smartphones become more powerful, running a full node could have a similar UX experience as running a light client wallet," he said.