Basic Understanding
This will give you a basic understanding of the lightning network, how it works, and where exactly it fits in the Bitcoin ecosystem
Use cases for the Lightning Network
The lightning network is very new and some interesting use cases have come to the surface. It is definitely not for everyone and you need some technical expertise to get under the hood. Simply using it however is now quite simple.
Hands On
Quiz
This is short multiple choice quiz to cement the concepts we covered.
Who are the creators of the Lightning Network?
You can trace the idea of the lightning network back to 2015, where Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryia describe it in their whitepaper. There are three distinct teams, who collectively carry out all the tasks involved with running the lightning network project. The lightning network also receives support from members of the Bitcoin Community at large.
The main difference is that they are implementing the protocol using distinct programming languages.
- ACINQ is responsible for a Scala implementation.
- Blockstream works on LN version in C.
- Lightning Labs is developing a Lightning Network Daemon written in Golang.
All of the groups above are working on their own implementation of the Lightning Network Protocol for different audiences.
Furthermore, there are other projects and companies growing the ecosystem – have a look at GitHub.
In conclusion, the lightning network appears to have the most resource backing and is most likely to win the race in scaling bitcoin to a true micropayment solution.