Add funds and withdraw

Adding funds to Lightning transfers them into VOUT custody. Your Lightning balance belongs to your VOUT account and is recorded by the service. Withdrawals send those funds to an on-chain wallet, where the recipient controls them with their own keys.

VOUT Lightning is live on Bitcoin Mainnet. The steps below follow the app; use the assets the service offers for your selected network.

Add BTC from this wallet

1. Open Add to Lightning and choose Bitcoin.
2. Enter the amount to move. Leave enough BTC in your on-chain wallet to pay the transaction fee.
3. Continue to the wallet’s Bitcoin send review. Check the amount, destination and network fee before approving.
4. Wait for the deposit to reach the required confirmation depth. The app shows the service’s confirmation requirement.

The service assigns your account a BTC deposit address and reuses it. Each transaction output paid to that address is credited once after sufficient confirmations. Six confirmations is the default configuration; the value shown in the app is the one to follow.

Broadcasting the transaction does not immediately increase your Lightning balance. Confirmation times depend on Bitcoin’s block production and the transaction fee. A time estimate is not a deadline.

You can also open the external-deposit option, copy the BTC address, and pay it from another wallet. Check the network before sending. This address accepts BTC; an RGB deposit needs an RGB receive request with its associated proof flow.

Add an RGB asset

Choose the asset and amount in Add to Lightning, then continue to the RGB send review. VOUT creates a receive request belonging to its RGB custody wallet. Your on-chain wallet pays that request using the same reviewed transfer flow as another RGB payment.

The service credits the deposit after the asset has arrived, its proof has validated and its anchor has confirmed. A Bitcoin transaction alone cannot establish that the expected RGB asset arrived. An invalid proof or a different asset will not create a spendable Lightning balance.

The assets offered depend on the service’s acceptance settings. Being visible in your on-chain wallet does not by itself mean an asset is accepted for deposit. For the proof and confirmation stages, see RGB transfer lifecycle.

Withdraw to an on-chain wallet

Open Move to wallet and select the balance to withdraw. The default destination is your current wallet. You can change it to an external Bitcoin address or, for an RGB asset, an external RGB invoice on the same network.

For BTC, enter an amount and review the fee. The current implementation requires a withdrawal of at least 5,000 sats, with the fee charged in addition. For an RGB withdrawal to your own wallet, the app creates an RGB receive request for the selected amount. An external RGB invoice already specifies its asset and amount.

Both kinds of withdrawal require BTC for the fee. An RGB withdrawal deducts the asset amount from that asset’s Lightning balance and its network fee from your BTC Lightning balance. Holding enough of the RGB asset is therefore insufficient if the BTC fee balance is empty.

The service calculates the quoted fee from the current chain fee rate and its withdrawal size allowance. A successful withdrawal keeps that quoted charge; it does not refund the difference between the allowance and the transaction’s eventual size. This differs from the fee reserve used for an outside Lightning payment. See Fees.

After you submit

Submission reserves the amount and fee, then puts the withdrawal into the operator’s review queue. Sent after review means that submission alone has not sent an on-chain transaction. Do not expect the timing of an internal VOUT payment.

If the withdrawal is declined, the reserved funds return to your balance. An uncertain network response can leave the request pending while the service checks its state. Check the existing activity entry before creating another request.

For BTC, a sent transaction still needs on-chain confirmation. For RGB, the custody service reports the withdrawal as sent after its anchor confirms, and the receiving wallet must validate the transfer. Keep the receiving wallet’s recovery data current; Backups explains what an RGB wallet needs to restore its assets.