Payment channels

Developers are working out ways to brainstorm potential problems and test their solutions for certain shortcomings of the Lightning Network.

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is a Layer 2 technology that offers many advantages over altcoins for making Bitcoin into a peer-to-peer payments technology.

The Lightning Network operates on channels which require funding and necessitate fees — but is everyone participating for the same reason?

Running a Lightning Node has nuances but can be profitable and effective if done right.

Lightning Labs just released the alpha version of a new protocol called Lightning Loop, designed to give users the ability to deposit and withdraw bitcoin from their payment channels without closing these channels entirely.

Blockstream has launched its satellite messaging application programming interface (API) on mainnet. Essentially, this means users can now broadcast data via the company’s satellite network and pay with Lightning payments.

The experiment has been making an impression on the bitcoin community; so far, Andreas Antonopoulos has been in on it, as has Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey who took up the flame from Matt Odell.

The Lightning Network continues to post steady growth.

Blockstream’s COO Samson Mow explains how “Liquid is designed to facilitate fast and reliable high value transfers” of bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies -- eventually.)

The Lightning Network, the long-awaited Bitcoin overlay network for cheap and instant transactions, has passed a major milestone that has been years in the making. This is the story so far.