user45365: When opening a lightning network channel between two parties, which of the following is true:
1) They must both pay a fee to open the channel
2) They might both pay a fee to open the channel
3) Just one party pays a fee.
The fee here refers to the bitcoin mining fee, not to the amount of BTC the two parties are putting in the channel.

user24974: Because a fee is part of a transaction, the fee must be paid by whichever party creates the funding transaction.
Don't think of it as paying a fee to open a channel, think of it as funding a channel with a transaction.  The fee just happens to be part of the transaction.  I believe the current spec has just a single party funding a transaction, but I see no reason why this could not be modified for parties to share the funding cost, in which case both would likely contribute to the fee.

45365: <p>When opening a lightning network channel between two parties, which of the following is true:</p>

<p>1) They must both pay a fee to open the channel</p>

<p>2) They might both pay a fee to open the channel</p>

<p>3) Just one party pays a fee.</p>

<p>The fee here refers to the bitcoin mining fee, not to the amount of BTC the two parties are putting in the channel.</p>
 24974: <p>Because a fee is part of a transaction, the fee must be paid by whichever party creates the funding transaction.</p>

<p>Don't think of it as paying a fee to open a channel, think of it as funding a channel with a transaction.  The fee just happens to be part of the transaction.  I believe the current spec has just a single party funding a transaction, but I see no reason why this could not be modified for parties to share the funding cost, in which case both would likely contribute to the fee.</p>
