Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
March 28, 2019 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- When it comes to
cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the more users involved in the
network, the more secure and usable the network becomes. More users
increases liquidity, as well as overall prevalence of the coin so
that it will more likely be adopted by businesses. However, getting
over the hump of an early adopter phase has proved to be difficult
for even the most widely known and used coin, Bitcoin. Most
consumers just want to be able to be able to spend money the same
way they always have, and do not value the other beneficial aspects
of the technology enough to adopt new ways of spending.
The Bitcoin Lightning Network has
been posed one of the best possible methods to reach this majority
consumer, to give them a form of cryptocurrency technology that has
much of the best of both worlds. Lightning network is a secondary
layer on top of the Bitcoin network which allows transactions to be
processed almost simultaneously, rather than the extended periods
of time it can take for a standard Bitcoin transaction to process.
In times when Bitcoin’s activity was soaring in late 2017,
transactions sometimes did not validate for hours.
“Lighting channels are like tubes
of money … Money moves around in the tube, but the total amount of
funds remains constant. So, unlike other payment systems, Lightning
requires ‘inbound capacity’ in order to receive funds.” - Lighting
Labs developers Alex Bosworth and Bryan Wu
Lightning
Loops
There are several organizations
which focus on development of the Bitcoin network, such as
Blockstream, Bitcoin Core and Lightning Labs. Blockstream was
originally behind the development of the Lightning network, but
most recently, Lightning Labs has recently a substantial
improvement to how it functions.
The lightning network is like a
continuously moving stream of Bitcoin transactions. In order to
receive a payment with it, you must have an outbound transaction to
balance it. In order to send a payment, you must have an inbound
transaction to balance it. This process maintains the liquidity
needed to maintain the benefits of the network. However, Lightning
Loops allow for a new way to interact with these payment
channels.
“We believe Loop will contribute to
the efficiency, scalability, and usability of Lightning. We
encourage any Lightning developers, testers, and enthusiasts to
begin trying Loop today.” - Alex Bosworth and Bryan Wu
The “Loop Out” and “Loop In”
features enable payment channel refills. These BTC refills can be
made from any on-chain bitcoin wallets or even an
exchanges.
By: BGN Editorial Staff