The Bitcoin network has been grappling with the plague of long payment confirmation periods and a congested network with high fees. As a result, concerns havebeen risen about whether the high transaction fees will bring about the demise of Bitcoin. The delays are mostly due to the limited block size and the high mining difficulty, that is also resource intense. This is why, on August 24th 2017; SegWit (a protocol to scale Bitcoin) was born on the Bitcoin network. SegWit brought with it the invention of the Lightning Network that is set to remove transactional signatures on the Bitcoin block, thus enabling faster transactions overall.

Transactions on the lightning network are expected to scale Bitcoin’s capacity, improving transactional speeds that will make micropayments possible on the Bitcoin Blockchain network. With lightning, Bitcoin will be able to finally compete with established payment systems such as PayPal and Visa.

How Lightning Will Influence the End User Experience

For the end user, the lightning network will translate to a cheaper, secure and much faster way of using Bitcoin to make payments. The number of transactions per block on Bitcoin’s Blockchain network will go up by up to 60 percent with shorter approval times.

This Is how it Will Work

Lightning will give users the ability to lock Bitcoins between two wallets, just the same way as escrow does. The two wallet owners will now have a channel connecting them and they will also be able to transact between one another. However, the special transactions only become real once they are later added to the Blockchain. This feature is meant to cut costs that come with making on-chain transactions. As a result, lightning will allow numerous updates between users. These will be off-chain transactions that will be much faster than on-chain transactions.

Furthermore, you do not only get to send transactions from point A to B. The lightning network will also enable transactions from point A, to B, to C. This means a large network can be created with more transactions happening off-chain. Users will be able to enjoy fast, secure and instantaneous transactions between one another, without the need to develop trust with one another.

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Do you think the lightning network will be a game changer for making fast and reliable Bitcoin payments? Share your thoughts and opinions in our comment section!