Episode #83: Lightning Network Deep Dive

Episode 83

August 28, 2016 — 69 mins

We (up ’til now) haven’t talked to much about the Lightning Network. In order to understand the Lightning Network, one must first have a basic understanding of bitcoin. Duplex micropayment channels solve a multitude of problems. For one they enable near-infinite scalability for digital payments based on Bitcoin. Bitcoin transactions are no longer used directly to transfer bitcoins from a sender to a recipient, instead they are used to setup micropayment channels and handle conflict resolution. The Lightning Network is a network of payment channels. When Alice wants to pay Carol, or Dave, or Susan, she finds the shortest route and makes a payment through the route using smart contracts. If Alice cannot find any route to pay Dave, Alice opens up a channel directly to Dave. Makes sense? No? Well…for starters our guest is Olaoluwa Osuntokun who might know a thing or two about it.