Against Rushing the Lightning NetworksteemCreated with Sketch.

in bitcoin •  7 years ago 

Like anyone else interested in cryptocurrencies, it would be ideal and great if secure, efficient scaling could be implemented tomorrow. And it sure feels tempting to cry out "hurry up with the lightning network!". And to be clear, Bitcoin must implement serious scaling in the not-too distance future, or else they really would lose out to a competitor. And maybe there are some politics within the Bitcoin community holding back scaling to some extent.

But make sure that you also care greatly that the new scaling methods are tested very thoroughly, and that the security is maintained. Off-chain scaling will increase the complexity of the network, and it is an opportunity for a major bug or vulnerability to cause ruin. And the implementation would have to be quite late in order to be a worse situation than a ruinous implementation.

Several implementations of the Lightning Network are in development, and I'm looking forward to it. But I think a lot of people in the Bitcoin space are underestimating the advantages of not jumping too quickly. There are other cryptocurrencies that have made some rather willy-nilly jumps in trying things, and I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole.

Ongoing, careful and meticulous will give the best results. And hats off to the developers working on this.

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Yes I agree security is of paramount importance for broader uptake. If it isn't secure it doesn't matter how soon we get it.