In a major breakthrough in improving the Bitcoin user experience, developers have confirmed that Lightning Network transactions have been successfully deployed on Bitcoin’s main net. Every advancement in speeding up transaction confirmation time in the Bitcoin network is a good news as investors are getting frustrated by the long queue of unconfirmed transactions and high miner fees of about 1000 Satoshis per byte.

Lightning is a decentralized network using smart contract functionality in the block chain to enable instant payments across a network of participants. It is one of the most eagerly awaited “layer two” upgrade for the Bitcoin Network. The successful deployment of Lightning Network will result in instantaneous transactions at a low cost. Further, the network will also be scalable and facilitate atomic swaps.

Lightning Labs

The testnet platform can be used to create a wallet and get a feel of the technology using test Bitcoins (tBTC). Transactions get completed in a few seconds. Once the technology goes live, payments can be made quickly using Bitcoin. A beta release is soon expected.

As of now, the miner fees can be reduced using Segwit addresses. However, several major wallet providers and payment processors do not support it.

Commenting on the project, Lightning’s co-founder Elizabeth Stark said she

“looked forward to way more of what no one has ever done.”

In a couple of months, we can expect Bitcoin network to have a fully functioning Lightning transaction facility.