Can Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Overcome The Price Of Anarchy?

Can Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Overcome The Price Of Anarchy?

The “price of anarchy” is inherent to systems in which individuals can act in their own interest — including the Lightning Network.This is an opinion editorial by Shinobi, a self-taught educator in the Bitcoin space and tech-oriented Bitcoin podcast host.The Lightning Network as a payment routing network has many similarities with the internet itself. You must be connected to the network, payments are routed from one source node on the network to a destination node just like data packets on the internet and it requires an unbroken connection from the source to destination. It also has one....


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The 411 On “Adopting Bitcoin,” A Lightning Network Conference in El Salvador

Perfect timing and place for a Lightning Network Conference. In less than a week, Bitcoin will be legal tender in El Salvador. The Lightning Network was instrumental for this to happen. The real-life case study for the Lightning Network is El Zonte AKA Bitcoin Beach. And in Mid-November, all of those factors will collide in an event aptly titled “Adopting Bitcoin.” Related Reading | How Big Is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? The Answer Will Surprise You This Lightning Network conference comes with a call-to-action as its unofficial slogan, “Unite, focus, collab!” And, by the looks of....

How Big Is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? The Answer Will Surprise You

The Lightning Network is one of the most bullish developments that the Bitcoin ecosystem has seen so far. And all the available metrics point up, a healthy and vibrant network is brewing. However, investor Kevin Rooke took a deeper look and found out that the Lightning Network is probably even bigger than previously thought. “Inaccurate comparisons and privacy preserving features make it hard to truly understand how big the Lightning Network is.” Related Reading | Bitcoin Lightning Network Reaches Record Capacity What does Rooke mean by that? Let’s find out. The Lightning Network By....

Does the Lightning Network Threaten Bitcoin’s Censorship Resistance?

The Lightning Network may well be Bitcoin’s primary solution to the issue of scalability, but many skeptics believe there are unresolved issues with this layer-2 system for the blockchain. The possibility of too much centralization via so-called “supernodes” is one of the common criticisms of the Lightning Network, and attached to that is the fear of these new, mostly -centralized payment hubs having the capacity to censor transactions. Bitcoin Magazine recently reached out to BitGo Engineer and Statoshi.info creator Jameson Lopp to get his thoughts on the possible privacy issues....