What is the Bitcoin Lightning Network?
One of the brightest spots within the Bitcoin network is the lightning network. A scalable, instant bitcoin transaction primed for the future.
While Bitcoin bills itself as a digital currency, no one will ever wait around for 10 minutes to process a single transaction.
So, rather than updating bitcoin’s underlying software. Lightning adds an extra layer to the tech allowing transactions to be made more quickly and cheaply. But also with the same security of the blockchain.
What is the technology like?
The Lightning Network depends on an underlying technology of the bitcoin blockchain. By using real Bitcoin/blockchain transactions and combining that with its native smart-contract scripting language it will transact at high speed and volume.
The network will be able to process instant payments. Instead of being processed in minutes, payments are made in milliseconds. Security will be enforced by blockchain smart-contracts.
It will also be scalable. Capable of billions of transactions per second across the network. No legacy payment rails can match its offering.
It will have a low cost. By transacting and settling off-blockchain, the Lightning Network charges very low fees, which provides for instant micropayments.
And it will be enable cross blockchains. Cross-chain atomic swaps can occur off-chain instantly. As long as the chains can support the same cryptographic hash function, it is possible to make transactions across blockchains.
