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One of the biggest questions facing Bitcoin has always been: can it scale? Will it be able to handle millions of people using it for small payments in their everyday lives? The Lightning Network provides a promising answer to these questions.
The Lightning Network is like an additional layer of connections built over the blockchain that dramatically improves its performance. It enables Bitcoin to handle millions of transactions per second with almost zero fees. This creates possibilities beyond what’s possible with traditional money.
At OMGFIN, we’re very excited about the Lightning Network. We believe this technology is the next step for Bitcoin and one of the payment systems of the future. If you’ve been struck by Lightning too, connect to our node, and let’s grow the network together.
The Lightning Network enables near-instant payments without waiting for network confirmations. Transaction speed is measured in milliseconds to seconds.
By enabling transfers as small as a fraction of a cent with almost zero fees, the Lightning Network opens the door to new use cases, such as pay-per-second video streaming.
With the power of Lightning, Bitcoin can handle millions of transactions per second and outperform traditional payment systems without relying on a middleman.
The Lightning Network is a second-layer solution, which means it builds on top of blockchain technology, but adds off-chain features as well. It works by opening special payment channels between users that allow you to send and receive crypto instantly for as long as the channel is open. Once the channel is closed, the new balances are written on the blockchain.
Before two people can send Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network, they have to open a payment channel and send some bitcoin to it. Then, they can send as many transactions as they want within the payment channel, but only with the bitcoin they already sent to the channel. When the funds run out, they either close the channel or send more bitcoin to it. The channel can be closed at any time, at which point the new bitcoin balances are written on the blockchain.
The Lightning Network avoids opening new payment channels. When possible, it will use already established channels instead. Consider the image below. If A wants to send crypto to D, they do not have to open a new channel. The payment will be wired through B and C. Following the six degrees of separation principle, Lightning will connect you to any user in the world sooner than may seem.
Transactions are made off-chain with confidence in on-chain enforceability. This is similar to how we enter a contract with another person, but do not have to go to court to sign it. The court is only involved in the case of non-cooperation. With the Lightning Network, the blockchain’s algorithms have the final say.
A Lightning Network node is software that connects to the Lightning Network to send and receive bitcoin from other nodes. The network is made up entirely from these nodes connecting.
1. As long as there are nodes online, the network is alive. They are its basic building blocks.
2. As more nodes open payment channels, the total network liquidity increases. It allows users to send more money to more people.
OMGFIN has been supporting the Bitcoin industry since its early days. By running our own Lightning Network node, we want to help the network grow and encourage other companies to start working with this amazing technology as well.
If you'd like to run a Lightning node just for your personal use, that's cool too! You can set one up for free if you're technical enough, but you'll have to run a full Bitcoin node as well. For less tech-savvy users, Casa is a popular choice for ready-made hardware Lightning nodes.
Do you have a Lightning Node of your own? Connect with ours.
