The Lightning Network is arguably the most anticipated scaling solution for Bitcoin to date. Why isn\u2019t everyone using it?
\n\u201cSpeaking of Bitcoin\u201d hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy are joined by Rene Pickhardt, Bitcoin and Lightning Network Developer. The four lead a conversation on the still in development yet rapidly growing Lightning Network. It\u2019s a second-layer network that enables fast, secure, private and inexpensive payments that don\u2019t make sense to store on bitcoin\u2019s base layer. But while that might sound ideal, it\u2019s not simple in practice. A scrappy community of companies and developers have been pushing the tech consistently forward as the number of hard problems still to solve ticks down.
\nEven as early as we are, Lightning has proven to be a radical improvement on the user experience of bitcoin. On the bitcoin network, fees vary but typically range from $1\u20135 and complete with confirmation in an average of ten minutes. With Lightning, fees and transaction times drop dramatically: the transaction fees are generally 1/100th or 1/10th of a penny and take just seconds.
\nIf the improvements of Lightning are clear, why isn\u2019t everyone using it today? Listen to hear more about the challenges and solutions coming to this rapidly-evolving aspect of bitcoin.
\nAdditional reading:\nAlbum art created using AI by Adam Levine/Pixelmind.ai