Are The Lightning Network ’s Almost-Free Transactions The Killer App BTC Needed?

Bitcoin is already a success story like no other. Will the Lightning Network ’s cheap transactions take the party to the next level? As our exploration of this new technology proceeds, we turn our heads to the ideas of Peter St Onge. Through his newsletter CryptoEconomy, he tells us about the Porcfest in New Hampshire. There, attendees transacted using the Lightning Network all through the festivities. Related Reading | How Big Is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? The Answer Will Surprise You “It was on-the-ground confirmation of what the statistics are already saying: the Lightning Network has arrived. Confirmation that the Bitcoin developer ecosystem has now built the holy grail: Bitcoin as a true medium of exchange. One where transfers are instant, essentially free, and as easy to use as the simplest app on your phone, whether Uber, Venmo, or Twitter.” An accurate description of where the Lightning Network is right now. However, we’re here to explore another idea of his. In “How Cheap Lightning Changes the World,” St Onge tells us: “Millennia of inventions show they don’t begin to change the world until they get cheap. Implying Bitcoin’s disruption of the real world hasn’t even begun, and Lightning Network can take it there, from the narrow “digital gold” of today to something revolutionary on the order of agriculture, the printing press, or the internet itself.” Are the Lightning Network ‘s almost-free transact...