While Bitcoin is immensely popular, everyday transactions remain a challenge. The Lightning Network changed that by enabling BTC microtransactions. Today, due to its popularity, it has even been able to help El Salvador make BTC a legal tender. (El Salvador uses a Lightning-compatible wallet to make seamless cross-border payments possible.) Read on to learn more about it.
What is Lightning Network?
The Lightning Network is essentially a payment platform. It is a Bitcoin-based layer-2 platform. That means it operates on Bitcoin’s infrastructure.
The network was created in response to scalability issues with the crypto giant Bitcoin. It makes transactions on Bitcoin faster without compromising on security or decentralization. It is also designed to lower the cost of transactions.
The network uses smart contracts to help Bitcoin scale in this way. The smart contracts help the network establish off-chain payment channels between user pairs. Not all participants need to be directly paired up with each other. So, if participant A is paired with B, and B is paired with C, participants A and C can still transact. However, only the opening and closing channels are recorded on Bitcoin. That means the transaction has actually happened off-chain, and Bitcoin is free to process more transactions.
History of Lightning Network
The Lightning Network was inspired by Satoshi Nakamoto, the person/group who created Bitcoin. The idea to form the network was first proposed in a February 2015 white paper by academic Joseph Poon and developer Thaddeus Dryja. The paper outlined a solution to one of the common problems faced by cryptos—scalability. At the time, many cryptos struggled to handle large transactional volumes, so Lightning presented itself as the answer. Making transactions “lightning” quick.
The Lightning Network went through several development stages. The first version of the software was released in March 2018. Since then, it has seen continued development and adoption, and a growing number of projects are being built on top of it.
In the first few years after its release, the network faced some challenges in relation to adoption. But by 2021, the network had grown significantly—in terms of the number of channels, total capacity, and the number of nodes.
The network continues to be actively developed and is widely considered a promising solution to crypto’s scalability and usability woes.
Why is the Lightning Network required?
So, to sum it up, the Lightning Network is necessary because the Bitcoin blockchain, despite its vast popularity, has several limitations. The limitations make it less suitable for certain types of transactions. These limitations are:
- Scalability: Bitcoin’s scalability woes are one of the main reasons for creating Lightning. The Bitcoin blockchain can only handle a limited number of transactions per second. This limitation leads to delays and high fees during periods of high network activity. The network is designed to help Bitcoin scale its transaction capacity. It does this by moving some transactions off the blockchain and into a separate, off-chain network.
- Fees: Due to the Bitcoin blockchain’s limited capacity, high fees are a concern. The fees become especially high during periods of high network activity. As a result, small transactions are uneconomical on Bitcoin. This makes Bitcoin less suitable for use cases that require frequent, low-value transactions.
- Confirmation time: After Bitcoin was launched, confirming transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain took a significant amount of time. That, too, made Bitcoin less suitable for use cases that require quick transactions. With Lightning, the transaction confirmation time on Bitcoin has improved significantly.
- Privacy: Bitcoin does not reveal who holds an account/wallet. But all of its transactions can be traced to a particular wallet. This makes it less suitable for use cases that require a high level of privacy.
So, the Lightning Network is important for Bitcoin because it allows for a wider range of use cases. It also makes Bitcoin more accessible to a larger number of people. Overall, it helps Bitcoin to reach its full potential as a payment network and can help increase its value.
Use cases of the Lighting Network
In addition to making BTC transactions seamless, there are some other use cases of the Lightning Network. To name a few:
- Microtransactions: The Lightning Network allows users to process very small transactions with very low fees. It is, therefore, ideal for small purchases.
- Online marketplaces: The network could facilitate fast and cheap transactions between buyers and sellers on online marketplaces. It could potentially reduce fees and improve the overall user experience.
Gaming: The network’s low transaction fees and fast confirmation times could make it well-suited for online games and other interactive apps. - Remittances: Since the network can facilitate fast and cheap cross-border money transfers, it would find applications while making international payments.
- Privacy-sensitive applications: Built on the Bitcoin blockchain, the Lightning Network uses Bitcoin’s built-in privacy features. That makes it useful when privacy is a concern.
How can you start using the Lightning Network?
There are a few steps you can take to start using the Lightning Network.
- Get a Bitcoin wallet: You will need a Bitcoin wallet compatible with the network. Some options are BlueWallet, Eclair Wallet, and Lightning App.
- Add funds to your wallet: Before beginning to use the Lightning Network, you will need to add some BTC to your wallet. You could do this by buying BTC off an exchange or by getting someone to send it to you.
- Connect to the network: You will have to connect your wallet to the network to make transactions. This process is usually automatic. You may expect it to happen as soon as you open the wallet.
- Make a payment: Once connected to the network, you can start making payments to other users. To do this, you must know the other user’s Lightning Network address.
- Receive payments: To receive payments on the network, share your network address with the sender.
It’s worth noting that the network is still relatively new and, therefore, can be a little harder to use than other cryptos. However, it has become more user-friendly over time, and it is likely to keep getting better.
Conclusion
The Lightning Network works by creating a network of payment channels. These channels allow users to make multiple transactions by taking some off-chain. This mechanism helps reduce the burden on the Bitcoin blockchain, thus allowing more transactions to be processed.
The network is still a relatively new technology. However, it has a lot of promise.
FAQs
1. What is Bitcoin Lightning Network?
The Bitcoin Lightning is essentially a layer-2 chain. That means it runs on the Bitcoin blockchain and helps its users to process transactions off the main chain. It, therefore, enables Bitcoin to improve its scalability and speed of transactions.
2. How does the Bitcoin Lightning Network work?
The Lightning Network enables users to carry out transactions without waiting for the slower mainnet to confirm them. It does this by creating a network of channels that allow the transactions to occur off-chain.
3. Is the Lighting Network decentralized?
Yes, Lightning Network is a decentralized platform. Just like the Bitcoin blockchain, on top of which it is built.
4. How does one invest in Lightning Network?
Purchasing and holding BTC is one of the simplest ways to invest in the Lightning Network. The network is built on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain, so to use it, you’ll need to own some BTC.
In addition, you can also download a Lightning wallet. There are several wallet options available for the Lightning Network.
5. Which wallets use the Lightning Network?
There are several wallets available that support the Lightning Network. Examples include Eclair Wallet, Blue wallet, Zeus, and Spark Wallet.
6. Who supports the Lightning Network?
Several individuals, exchanges, and companies in the crypto community support the network. Blockchain technology company Blockstream, crypto exchange Bitfinex, and OpenNode, a Lightning-based payment processor, are all part of its community.
