Carol's future will look like when she uses the Lightning Network, according to the Lightning creators' blog. Finally, it's nearly as simple as using Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash. Except that there's a lot more going on behind the surface that Carol isn't aware of, and her transactions don't bog down the blockchain.
Carol lives in a "not-too-distant future" in which the Lightning Network is widely used as a payment method. The Lightning developers discuss how the Lightning user experience might appear in the future on a typical day in their lives. This isn't as appealing or as contentious as it could be. As a result, the blog post is incredibly intriguing because it demonstrates how to tackle one of Lightning's most serious issues.
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If you're unfamiliar with the Lightning Network, it's a system of payment channels that connect in such a way that you may send Bitcoins across them. Lightning transactions, unlike regular Bitcoin transactions, never reach the blockchain and hence do not require all nodes in the network to receive, check, store, or disseminate them. Lightning scales better than Bitcoin while maintaining Bitcoin's decentralisation. It's similar to using solar thermal instead of wood to heat your home.
Even though the Eclair wallet for Android is a wonderful step in the right direction, the Lightning Network currently lacks a user experience. Carol will encounter Lightning in the future, when the infrastructure has matured as the developers envision it, according to a post on the Lightning Labs blog:
1- Carol begins by installing the Lightning app on her smartphone. According to the blog, she stores a seed of 24 words in a safe place, although I'm sure this will be optional. You can save it as well if you only save 20 to 100 euros on it.
2-Carol then sends several Bitcoins from the exchange to her app as if it were a regular wallet, as is customary. According to the Lightning developers, this takes around an hour. I'm not sure if they wrote this because a Lightning app requires six acknowledgements to build a channel or because Lightning devs enjoy chatting about on-chain transactions.
3- Then, using Carol's Bitcoins, a mechanism called autopilot creates five payment channels. This takes roughly an hour again, but is only required for the first set up.
4-Carol now enters the retail area and purchases alpaca wool socks. Alice scans the QR code with her Lightning wallet and clicks Submit when the merchant shows her a QR code on his tablet. The payment was received promptly, and the fees were really minimal.
5-Carol purchases an in-game item for an online game in the evening ("World of Wowcraft"). Carol confirms the payment with a Lightning money order, and the payment is completed. It's self-evident and almost free.
Carol then requests that her Lightning app wallet be recharged. She merely needs to submit a payment request with the quantity of Bitcoins she wants to receive and her Lightning Network ID because her favourite exchange supports Lightning. Carol submits this to the exchange, which then uses Lightning to send Bitcoins to Carol's app wallet. Practically without fees, and almost instantly.
All of this appears to be straightforward, yet a closer examination reveals a wealth of technology Carol is unaware of. They've been given the following names by the Lightning developers:
-Payment methods via which she sends Bitcoins
-Smart contracts that ensure that you can not be cheated,
-Routing Nodes that bring the transaction to Carol's destination,
-Watchtowers, who keep Carol from being cheated (when she goes offline),
-Splicing, a feature that allows you to pay onchain from a channel without closing the channel, and
-Atomic Multipath Payments, which split larger amounts into smaller ones in order to better route them through the network.
Carol does not need to be conversant with all of these technologies, according to the site, as long as she understands TCP/IP in order to utilise the Internet.
Everything in the post makes sense in some ways. Lightning can be made more user-friendly if everyone pitches in and takes minor detours. In some ways, though, it makes no sense at all. Because, in the long run, Carol has approximately the same user experience she can have today with any cryptocurrency except Bitcoin, albeit a little more complex. Nothing will improve Carol's situation as a user. Lightning is like a new Metallica record in that you get excited when the songs are "nearly as good as they used to be."
Onchain transactions are extremely expensive and slow, according to the Lightning developers. All currencies, with the exception of Bitcoin, have very minimal costs, and unconfirmed transactions are entirely acceptable in all of the payment instances given (and probably even faster than Lightning transactions). Given that the Lightning-Wallet only requires six transactions to get started (one for charging, five for payment channels) and one to two hours to get up and running, it's likely that the user experience will become significantly more expensive and slower.
In addition, there are a few minor drawbacks when compared to standard Bitcoin usage: With a Seed backup, Lightning can only reconstruct the initial transaction that creates the channel, not the entire channel's history, thus withdrawing funds from an exchange appears to be a little more hard, as it requires an action from the receiving wallet first. Also, you have to have some faith in a watchtower.
Of course, simply understanding that Lightning can be as simple to use as Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash is sufficient. But don't expect it to be enough to get the offchain network up and running. This is likely to necessitate the idealism of maintaining the Bitcoin blockchain in a long-term sustainable manner while also accepting altruistic user experience downsides. In the same way as the energy transition.
Wanchain aims to create an all-in-one solution for the entire financial crypto world. The project's goal is to create a distributed financial system in a "decentralised future" by employing a universal protocol that encompasses all blockchain tiers. Simply said, Wanchain aims to establish a decentralised banking system.
Wanchain (WAN) aims to transform the digital asset economy, which includes the whole cryptocurrency industry. One of the most serious issues in today's crypto world is that different cryptocurrencies cannot be directly swapped (by atomic swap).
This is akin to the time before the internet, when computers could only connect with other computers on local LAN network, rather than with all computers on the planet. The Internet did not reach its full potential until all of the world's computers were connected.
Cryptocurrency trading is now conducted through central exchanges such as Binance, Bitfinex, Bittrex, and others. Decentralized exchanges are still in their early stages of development, accounting for only a small portion of total cryptocurrency trade volume.
It would be a fantastic breakthrough and a solution to a significant problem if blockchains could communicate with one another. Without the use of centralised instances, several blockchains might connect with one another (the exchanges).
This is a problem that Wanchain is attempting to fix. As a result, there has been a lot of buzz around Wanchain since its initial coin offering.
You'll be surprised if you read the whitepaper and search at the primary features that Wanchain would like to offer or already offers:
Wanchain is a fork of Ethereum, therefore it has taken over the functionality of smart contracts.
Smart contracts and cross-chain DApps are examples of cross-chain communication.
Ring signatures allow for private transactions (like Monero)
Address that is only used once
An ICO platform with a decentralised trading market.
Tool for asset management
Wanchain is a blockchain-based technology.
Let's take a closer look at the features. The Cross-Chain Communication Protocol, which allows communication and thus exchange between the WAN-blockchain and other blockchains, is probably the most creative aspect.
The protocol consists of three components that communicate with the WAN blockchain and are implemented using smart contracts. Wanchain hopes to solve the problem of value transfers between multiple ledgers by connecting the nodes of different blockchains and creating a framework for financial applications based on digital currencies and digital assets.
Three main characteristics should therefore characterise financial infrastructure:
Privacy Protection in the Cross-Chain
Everything is in one project with smart contracts. The Blockchain-based Smart Contracts, which are likewise anonymous, are also unique (like Monero).
Wanchain likewise prioritises anonymity, employing Monero privacy features such as ring signatures and one-time addresses. The "ring signatures" break up the transaction over several blocks, making it difficult to follow.
Furthermore, incorrect addresses are created as part of this "ring." As a result, tracing which wallet to which wallet a transaction was made is (nearly) impossible. Because one-time addresses are used, each transaction generates a new address, making tracking even more difficult.
To verify transactions, a proof-of-stake algorithm is utilised. Cross-Chain Transaction Proof Nodes (Vouchers), Locked Account Management Nodes (Storemen), and General Verification Nodes are the three types of masternodes used by Wanchain (Validators).
The issue of scalability comes because Wanchain favours Ethereum and shares its codebase. Wanchain sees scalability and performance as a big concern for the entire industry, according to the company. That is why Wanchain, in collaboration with other initiatives, particularly the Ethereum community, is looking for solutions.
Wanchain can also demonstrate a working product as well as a Mainnet. The Explorer, Wallet, WAN, Smart Contract, and privacy features of Wanchain 1.0 are now available.
Who is the mastermind of Wanchain?
Wanchain was founded by Jack Lu. He developed Factom, a cryptocurrency that is currently ranked in the top 100 by market valuation, as well as Wanglu Tech, a blockchain application software company.
Lu established the Wanchain Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Singapore and Austin, Texas, specifically for Wanchain. Dustin Byington, the foundation's president, is well-known in the crypto community for launching Bitcoin College, Satoshi Talent, and co-founding Tendermint.
WAN is a cryptocurrency.
Wanchain is not only a cross-chain platform capable of cross-transaction transactions, but it is also a self-contained blockchain network. The Wanchan Coin (WAN) is at the heart of this.
The WAN ICO raised 210 million dollars by selling 107 million tokens (Total Supply). There could be a total of 120,000 ETH available. The following is a breakdown of revenue: Infrastructure is worth 10%, daily operations are worth 10%, marketing is worth 10%, community development is worth 10%, and research and development is worth 60%.
The ICO set the price of a WAN at $ 0.34. When the WAN Coin initially traded on an exchange at the end of March, it was worth more over $ 3, ten times its ICO price. The WAN, on the other hand, immediately recovered after a brief dip in April. For the first time on May 3, 2018, the WAN price surpassed the $ 9 barrier.
The Blockchain Interoperability Alliance (BIA) is a non-profit organisation dedicated
Wanchain launched the "Blockchain Interoperability Alliance" with ICON and AION. The alliance's shared purpose is to promote interconnection across isolated blockchain networks. The goal is to foster collaboration and research in the area of interchain transactions and communications, as well as the development of common industry standards.
All initiatives are described individually in the following video, as well as the alliance's goals.
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Wanchain Roadmap
Wanchain has already taken its first steps in 2016, as evidenced by the roadmap. Wanchain 1.0 has been running on the Mainnet since January. Wanchain 2.0, including PoS, Ethereum cross-chain capability, and a multi-coin wallet, will be released this summer. Version 3.0, which will include Bitcoin, is expected to be released by the end of 2018. Even "Privacy Coins" will be added by the end of 2019.
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Critical consideration
The project was, and continues to be, immensely popular. Indeed, if Wanchain can deliver on its claims, it appears to be a highly interesting initiative that has the potential to build a fully self-contained financial ecosystem for digital currencies and other digital assets. Features like anonymous Smart Contracts and the Cross-Chain Communication Protocol, in particular, are particularly novel.
However, I believe it is debatable whether Wanchain will be able to fully impose itself. On the Ethereum platform, for example, OmiseGo's Unbank the Bank concept takes a similar approach. On the NEO platform, there are multiple decentralised exchanges under development, the first of which is now online (Switcheo), which aims to facilitate token swaps with ERC20 tokens, for example.
Wanchain, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive bundle with some unique features. It will be interesting to observe how Wanchain evolves in the coming future.