Against Lightning Network

Clemens Ley and I spent a year and a half implementing a routed payment channel network similar to Lightning Network. We had our technology working on mainnet Bitcoin before Lightning Network because our protocol was not dependent on segwit, and segwit didn’t launch until later.

We abandoned routed payment channels in mid-2017 when it become clear that it didn’t work as promised and it was impossible to make it user-friendly. We switched to Bitcoin Cash instead because it solved the problem we had: fast and cheap transactions.

I have written a number of articles and created a number of videos and presentations about this.

The most important arguments I have created against Lightning Network are these:

• Lightning Network vs. Bitcoin Cash (video)
• Why We Chose Bitcoin Cash Over Litecoin (article)

My arguments are not the only arguments against Lightning Network. I recommend anyone who is interested in Lightning Network to consider what their end goal is and to critically evaluate whether Lightning Network can accomplish that goal. Lightning Network does not create a fast and cheap payment network. Does it accomplish anything else that matters? I do not believe so.

Previous Blogchain posts:

• Let the Trolls Have Twitter
• Notes on Craig Wright’s “Trolls and bullies”
• How I Became the First Person to Upload More Than 1 GB of Data to the Blockchain
• My Photos From Blockchain History Day
• How I Filled the Three Largest Blocks in History with Thousands of Button Swipes
• Continuing Up Potrero Hill: A 57 MB Block
• 50 MB Blocks of Potrero Hill
• 300 MB Photo Journey of Ocean Beach
• Results of the First User-Activated Stress Test (UAST)
• Presentations, Panels and Podcasts (2014 - 2018)
• The Other Side of San Francisco: A 280 MB Photo Tour of the Tenderloin
• Uploading 173 MB of High Resolution Photos to the Blockchain
• Uploading Large Photos to the Blockchain
• Notes on Craig Wright’s “Free Speech” as it Pertains to Money Button
• Notes on “Theory of Money and Credit” by Ludwig von Mises
• My Notes on Craig Wright’s “Profiting from Privacy”
• My Notes on “Godel’s Proof”
• My Notes on “The Handicap Principle”
• Payment Channels, Craig Wright, and Money Button
• Putting Domain Names and Email on the Blockchain

Ryan X. Charles

Founder & CEO of Money Button

https://www.ryanxcharles.com