Checking Out Bitcoin’s Lightning Network

in bitcoin •  7 years ago 

Last week Lightning Labs announced the release of its Ind 0.4-beta.

The Lightning Network is a second layer solution for bitcoin that will provide instant payments, scalability, low costs, and cross-chain support via atomic swaps.

The release of the beta was significant as it means the developers feel it’s safe enough to use on bitcoin’s mainnet.

Lightning Network is the first Layer 2 solution that is built on top of the current bitcoin blockchain. And the basic idea behind it is that not every transaction will have to be broadcast to the network.

It uses what are called payment channels so that parties can conduct transactions with each other without having to upload each transaction to the blockchain, which can be time consuming and costly.

The best way to think about it is like a bar tab. You open it up at the beginning of the night. As it goes on the bartender records all your transactions. But you don’t settle up until the end of the night.

The Lightning Network will work in a similar way, enabling two parties to conduct an unlimited amount of transactions without having to touch the blockchain.

That alone will help scalability as bitcoin will be able to handle exponentially more payments than it did before.

Lightning Network is also super-fast, allowing for near instant payments.

And keeping transactions off the blockchain also significantly reduces fees. First, fees only come into play when the channel is closed. Second, fees are proportional to the payment amount, down to thousandths of a satoshi. That will make microtransactions possible.

Also cool is that with the beta announcement Lightning Labs also announced it received $2.5 million in seed funding from some big names in the industry like Charlie Lee of Litecoin and Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square. Those funds will help continue development.

According to Elizabeth Starks, co-founder of Lightning Labs, "Bitcoin enthusiasts have gotten excited about this, merchants are excited about this. It feels like we're right on the edge of mass cryptocurrency adoption."

I can’t wait to see what’s next.


For more on cryptos follow me @g-dubs and on SteemFollower

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This is one of the easiest explanation and reader friendly on lightning network I've read. Thank you very much for sharing :)

Glad to hear it, thank you!

very interesting, thanks

Cheers!

Yes, I agree, very interesting!

I can wait

very informative post about bitcoin, we are all waiting for crypto regulation.

Thanks!
Regulation, ugh!

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Brother said exactly

interesting post @g-dubs

Awesome post............

I think this is amazing and I can't wait to see the results of this new development. I think BTC needed this to remain competitive with altcoins and I hope the plan works. I'm a big fan. :-) Thanks! Upvoted!

LN could make a lot of altcoins obsolete.

i aggre with you very interesting post. thanks for share

Cheers!

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Do not open links from users you do not trust. Do not provide your private keys to any third party websites.

Thanks for the warning!

interesting stuff!

Oh yea!

gdubs, i am interested in how this aligns with the white paper and satoshis vision, do "Bcashers" have a footing on this? isnt the point of bitcoin to have every transaction on the blockchain?

Every transaction does end up on the blockchain, but only when the channel closes. That allows for all the small tx to go thru the payment channels making BTC a lot more scalable. It's hard to say how Satoshi would feel about it, only he/she/it knows! The problem with bigger blocks is that it's a linear solution to an exponential problem.

Bar tab is the best way to explain. Charlie Lee stays confusing me why not do that for Litecoin?

My favorite analogy too.

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Good to see the Steem community is all over this! Thanks!

Totally unrelated to the article, but I have begun wondering who is real and who is a bot lol. Just curious. Anyways good info.

Lol I've noticed that too. I'm trying not to upvote those comments.
Damn bots!

Haha yeah. Makes me wonder if the owners make decent coin. But idk. I want my account to have meaning.

This should get btc prices to go up and steem with it.

We will rally again!

If the market continues in this way we will be deprived of investment.

Screenshot_2018-03-23-03-51-13-116_com.crypter.cryptocyrrency-picsay.png

That's short-term thinking. By the end of the year $8,659 will look great.

I Hope It will Revolutionize the Bitcoin Transfers.
Glad you see it.

Thanks!

your welcome.

I wonder why such improvement in the network are not getting good marketing... That is another sign that the market is controlled by the wheals... this news will be marketed in 3-4 months to support the price since now it's not a good time to use this news...

Lol good marketing never hurts. Still a ways to go in development though.

Agree...

you are absolutely right. i agree with you.

Cheers!

great informative post

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