
While Lightning can be used for any type of transfer, most find it useful for micropayments or smaller transfers that are typically uneconomical due to base layer fees.Īs of August 2021, Lightning Network stats show that more than 2,000 BTC have been transferred using the network. The Bitcoin Lightning Network aims to solve these limitations by providing instant and inexpensive transactions while achieving a throughput of approximately 1 million transactions per second. Network congestion – Slow block times and heightened use of the network can result in delays in transaction confirmations.Transactions per second – Bitcoin is only capable of approximately 7 transactions per second (TPS).Fees – As block space is limited, mining fees can fluctuate wildly based on demand for transaction inclusion.Currently, Bitcoin faces the following limitations:


However, many agree that Bitcoin still needs better functionality in order to become a global medium of exchange and a peer-to-peer cash system as originally laid out in the seminal whitepaper Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

The Lightning Network (also referred to as Lightning, or LN) is a scalability solution built on top of Bitcoin that allows users to quickly send and receive BTC with virtually no fees.
