Abstracting Bitcoin Lightning Network Complexity with Ultraviolet

With this work, we introduce the concept of Timechain-level model, along with an open-source implementation (Ultraviolet), to abstract the complexity of the Lightning Network (LN) while still providing a vision of base layer events and protocol internals. After depicting how each element of the model is mapped into the LN architectural stack, we show a case study to demonstrate its usage in investigating large-scale scenarios for research, development and educational purposes. Finally, we present a comparison to properly contextualize our contribution to the current state of the art of LN modelling, highlighting the advancements introduced by a Timechain-level and future directions of research it opens.