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Lightning Network

On-chain vs Off chain. A War of Words.

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The battle between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash continues to rage.  Outspoken proponent and brainchild of Bitcoin cash, Roger Ver, is still pushing on-chain advancement over off-chain.  Since splitting from BTC in August of 2017, BCH has maintained a dedicated following of users.  They believe it is on the right path for continued growth.  With the original fork occurring over disagreements on the viability and effectiveness on implementing SegWit, BCH has continued to take an opposing stance to the direction of BTC.

Don’t fret though, despite Roger Ver and his followers speaking out against off-chain scaling, the Lightning Network continues to grow in popularity.  It is seen by many as the solution to scalability within the network.  Something that is seen as one of the last real barriers preventing institutional money from entering the markets.  Although the barrier is not low enough yet, even SegWit has allowed BTC to greatly improve its usability in recent months.  Just 3 days ago we witnessed a $300,000,000 transaction be completed over the BTC network for a mere $0.40.  Between the ability to handle transactions of this size, and the potential of Lightning Network to overhaul the way micro transactions are completed, BTC is firing on all cylinders right now. 

In recent days we have seen multiple high profile industry mainstays come to the defense of Lightning Network.  The lead developer of Monero, Riccardo Spagni, believes that the Lightning Network is not simply a necessity.  In a recent tweet he stated, From Monero’s perspective: I don’t think anyone will ever stop trying to improve on-chain scaling by reducing tx sizes, improving block/tx propagation etc., but second-layer solutions are necessary for scaling beyond those capabilities, and are necessary for maximal privacy.

Also stepping up to praise off-chain scaling of the network was the revered Andreas Antonopoulos.  In a video released on his YouTube page , Andreas answered multiple inquiries questioning the true viability of the Lightning Network.  In the following excerpt from the video, it is evident that Andreas is as bullish on the Lightning Network as ever.  He stated, “Lightning Network really does bring enough scaling. It allows us to change the dimensions of Bitcoin; it allows us to reduce the granularity of payments, not just down to millibits but down to satoshis and even sub-satoshi amounts… and do that all on the scale of millisecond round trips.

In their two responses, Spagni and Antonopoulos touch on speed, tx fees, efficiency, and privacy.  All things brought by the Lightning Network.  Each of these responses were prompted by skeptics shutting down the Lightning Network technology.  They are doing so because of growing pains it is currently experiencing.  Multiple reports have recently touched on the low success rates currently seen on the network.  Skeptics however, cannot look past this as simply an issue of the technology being in its infancy.  They are unable to realize that the issue will soon be gone as the network grows.

If one thing is clear, it is that the community is still divided.  Despite the promise that SegWit and the Lightning Network have brought to BTC, there are many that still believe BCH is on the better path.  Both sides have loud voices within the industry, defending their choices.  Make sure to listen to all of these voices, and form an educated opinion on which speaks the greatest truth.