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Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#21

Post by wollsmoth »

jbaczuk wrote: post #16
jmoak3 wrote: post #10

Lightning Network is just a centralized company acting as a middleman, occasionally (if ever) committing changes to the blockchain right? If that is the case, then theoretically Visa and Paypal are already lightning networks, just without the periodic bitcoin commits. If so, wouldn't that mean that if Visa and Paypal are banned from letting country X citizens send funds to someone in country Y, wouldn't the gov of X…

Company? Lightning is a distributed network and anyone can participate.

Sure, but in many cases people want to redeem the payment for local currency. In that situation, governments can manage the on/offramp to the network.

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#22

Post by jmoak3 »

jbaczuk wrote: post #16
jmoak3 wrote: post #10

Lightning Network is just a centralized company acting as a middleman, occasionally (if ever) committing changes to the blockchain right? If that is the case, then theoretically Visa and Paypal are already lightning networks, just without the periodic bitcoin commits. If so, wouldn't that mean that if Visa and Paypal are banned from letting country X citizens send funds to someone in country Y, wouldn't the gov of X…

Company? Lightning is a distributed network and anyone can participate.

I thought lightning was just code for "Off-Chain transactions processed by someone else".

Reading here: https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-for-beginners/what-is-the-...

I still get that impression:

>The Lightning Network is a second layer added to Bitcoin’s (BTC) blockchain that allows off-chain transactions, i.e. transactions between parties not on the blockchain network.

Can you help me understand how this will be different than Visa/Paypal with occasional commits to the chain?

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#23

Post by this_user »

caconym_ wrote: post #14

I'm sick of hearing about what crypto "could" do. I used BTC to pay for a few lunches back when transaction fees were in the cents rather than hundreds (?) of dollars or worse, and it was pretty neat, but it's clear today that the crypto ecosystem has largely become a paradise for grifters, scammers, fraudsters, and straight-up criminals, and (more generally) just another way for the rich and sophisticated to get ric…

For every proposed crypto use case, there already exists a better solution that does not use crypto currency technology.

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#25

Post by bragr »

jbaczuk wrote: post #16
jmoak3 wrote: post #10

Lightning Network is just a centralized company acting as a middleman, occasionally (if ever) committing changes to the blockchain right? If that is the case, then theoretically Visa and Paypal are already lightning networks, just without the periodic bitcoin commits. If so, wouldn't that mean that if Visa and Paypal are banned from letting country X citizens send funds to someone in country Y, wouldn't the gov of X…

Company? Lightning is a distributed network and anyone can participate.

Sure but most of the implementations are commercial

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Network#Implementati...

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#26

Post by nly »

targ65 wrote: post #6

"Let’s say you want to make a $100 payment to a merchant. Using your credit card would cost the merchant $3, which is then passed along to you via hidden costs. " You also get 1-3 credit card points, which for you is extra money that you wouldn't get if you were to pay for this with Bitcoin or, for that matter, cash. Also if the merchant screws you and sends you the wrong or a broken item, you can dispute the charge…

Not to mention in Europe credit card fees are capped to 0.2% of transaction value.

Americans at getting screwed with their "reward" cards.

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#27

Post by cannaceo »

targ65 wrote: post #6

"Let’s say you want to make a $100 payment to a merchant. Using your credit card would cost the merchant $3, which is then passed along to you via hidden costs. " You also get 1-3 credit card points, which for you is extra money that you wouldn't get if you were to pay for this with Bitcoin or, for that matter, cash. Also if the merchant screws you and sends you the wrong or a broken item, you can dispute the charge…

If crypto was the default we would all be amazed at this improved system of having fraud insurance, rewards for spending, customer service, and fast transactions.

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#28

Post by nradov »

xvilka wrote: post #7

Even with all cryptocurrencies prices roller coaster and continuous scams they are 100x times better still than traditional banks - less paperwork, everything automated as much as possible, often even faster. No COBOL and online clients from 1990.

How is it better? I can't buy anything that I actually want with cryptocurrency. There's no paperwork for my traditional bank accounts and everything is already automated and fast. The programming language they use on the back end is utterly irrelevant to customers, we never see it. Nothing wrong with COBOL anyway, it still works fine.

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#29

Post by AnonC »

caconym_ wrote: post #14

I'm sick of hearing about what crypto "could" do. I used BTC to pay for a few lunches back when transaction fees were in the cents rather than hundreds (?) of dollars or worse, and it was pretty neat, but it's clear today that the crypto ecosystem has largely become a paradise for grifters, scammers, fraudsters, and straight-up criminals, and (more generally) just another way for the rich and sophisticated to get ric…

I’m scratching my head after reading this. Bitcoin doesn’t have “gas fees”. That’s an Ethereum thing (the term and the fee being very high). I’ve read online that Bitcoin transaction fees are in cents. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can confirm how it is nowadays.

Re: Bitcoin Lightning network could disrupt $150B year payment/remittance industry

#30

Post by TheDudeMan »

caconym_ wrote: post #14

I'm sick of hearing about what crypto "could" do. I used BTC to pay for a few lunches back when transaction fees were in the cents rather than hundreds (?) of dollars or worse, and it was pretty neat, but it's clear today that the crypto ecosystem has largely become a paradise for grifters, scammers, fraudsters, and straight-up criminals, and (more generally) just another way for the rich and sophisticated to get ric…

> "most of the people throwing their weight behind it today prefer it in its current state."

Based on what? The lightning network is new and growing. And that's just one legitimate project out of dozens in active development (not just Bitcoin). Yes, there are scams. Only scams? No.

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