Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is a layer-2 solution deployed in the Bitcoin blockchain network to perform cheap and efficient transactions. Are you looking for a Bitcoin transaction and in most of the articles you have heard about the less efficient, and expensive transaction rate of the Bitcoin blockchain? If so, then yes these problems are no more in this specific blockchain after the invention of “Bitcoin’s Lightning Network”. To know more about this fascinating and exciting technology, I encouraged you to stay tightly bound with this article. So, there's no time to waste, let's start now.
What is Bitcoin's Lightning Network?
Bitcoin lightning network is a layer-2 payment protocol and it improves the speed of Bitcoin transactions as well as scalability. As we all know Bitcoin is a very popular crypto transaction platform and due to its popularity, Bitcoin's growth is very high and a very large number of users are using this platform to perform secure transactions. A high number of users means a high number of transactions initiated on the Bitcoin blockchain network which leads to longer confirmation duration and higher transaction fees.
Before the lightning network, another major issue of the Blockchain network was "Limited Block Size" which means the block size was fixed, almost equal to 1MB. Due to the fixed size of the block, only limited transactions were allowed to process. As a result, Bitcoin had to face many challenges like it taking much time for confirmation and users having to wait for a long time as well as they also had to pay a high transaction fee.
To minimize the confirmation time and transaction fee, the Bitcoin lightning network was introduced as well to resolve the scalability issue and helps to perform a fast transaction. Fast transactions mean you can accomplish the desired task at a low transaction fee by using off-chain payment channels. This means two parties can conduct transactions directly without having to wait for the confirmation of the block on the main blockchain and it really works to reduce the congestion and increase the working capacity of the main network.
Shortly, in the lightning network all the functions are accomplished by using the “Off-chain Payment Channel” and if you are still confused about these channels then let’s discuss them more clearly about these channels. Well, Off-chain payment channels allow the users or two different parties to conduct multiple fast and cheap transactions directly without the involvement of the main blockchain network which means you don't need to wait more for the confirmation. And all this is done by using a smart contract which means it would be only executed when both of the parties meet the predefined condition and when the given condition is met the smart contract would be automatically executed. So the use of smart contracts ensures its security and integrity so there is no need to worry about any cyber threat unless there would be no vulnerability found by the hackers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bitcoin’s lightning network is created to improve the overall functionality of the Bitcoin blockchain network. Sometimes, transactions became a headache for the users because of the large number of transactions created over the Blockchain network. It really made the network slow down and the users had to wait for the confirmation. But after the deployment of the lightning network, all these issues have vanished because now, all the transactions are created directly between two parties with the help of smart contracts without involving the main blockchain network. The transaction is completed effectively and at a very low transaction rate as a result.
