Raiden Network (RDN) is all about fast, cheap, scalable token transfers built on Ethereum for the larger eco-system of Ethereum based ERC20 tokens (Raiden Network, 2018).

Any ERC20 token. Lightning fast. Off-chain.

You could liken it to Lightning Network for the Bitcoin family – with some notable differences (single-direction, ether based). Anyone familiar with the popular Mortal Kombat video game franchise will know the name and relate it to devastatingly quick action and electric specialties. Those familiar with Japanese will know it means thunder & lightning – or telegram, which is really the same “electric action & report” concept.

Taking transactions off-chain from many nodes to one is a critical evolution in “Smart Home” and “Internet of Things” technologies. Conceptually, this technology can allow consumers to, instead of paying for a light bulb, rather, get a free lightbulb and pay-per-use in microtransactions – effectively creating a new retail landscape.

Raiden and µraiden (said “microraiden”) hope to be one of the, if not THE, solution(s) for zapping tiny pieces of blockchain payments, commands, fulfillment requests, etc. across the ledger. Synchron associate partner Matt Shaw explained its importance to Bankless Times as “The Raiden network uses off-chain transactions in order to provide improved scalability, settlement speed and privacy for global payments, whilst using the public Etherium blockchain as an immutable ledger for settling netted transaction balances.”

The Raiden Network Token (RDN) was announced November 8, 2017, with a total supply of 100,000,000 tokens. You can participate in the network with a little coding skill and information from their Github. Microraiden / µraiden is a bug bounty main net release from November 30, 2017, for fleshing out the larger working code.

There are many good cases for “why” we need something like this. Andrew Silver wrote for The Register “Applications could include scanning of RFID tags to track shipments as part of a supply chain, a smart fridge that orders milk when it’s out, or downloading MP3s.” As the “Internet of Things” and adoption of the Ethereum blockchain grows, Raiden stands as a lightning fast option to be reckoned with.

How can you buy RDN?

You first need to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum on Coinbase and then transfer it over to your account at Binance or KuCoin to exchange it for OMG. For reference, check out our guide –Cryptocurrency Investing: How to Buy Altcoins. If you get stuck or need help, send us a message through our Facebook page or use our contact page and someone on staff will walk you through the process.