The first "true" Bitcoin payment leveraging the Lightning Network took place this week on the Bitrefill mobile recharge service.
"Lightning payments" on Bitrefill
Lightning too slow and too expensive transactions: these are the main criticisms that are made to the Bitcoin network. To remedy this, a solution was proposed in January 2016: the Lightning Network, which consists of "unloading" the Bitcoin blockchain by processing transactions on payment channels outside the Bitcoin.
IT developer Alex Bosworth said on Thursday that he managed to make the first "real" transaction on the "mainnet" of Bitcoin - in other words, not in a test environment - thanks to the Nework Lightning.
He was able to pay a "real" phone bill on the Bitrefill website, without having to pay transaction fees, and almost instantaneously.
Bitrefill is a website that allows users to recharge their phone credit with their Bitcoins or Litecoins. The service supports more than 600 operators, and is available across 150 countries.
This is what Mr. Bosworth recently reported on Twitter:
Francis Pouliot, co-founder of the blockchain expertise center catallaxy.com, welcomed this news:
The Lightning Network is what we call a "scaling" solution. It is supposed to help cope with Bitcoin network congestion - a network that is currently synonymous with high transaction fees and deadlines.
The idea of such a protocol is not new, since its whitepaper was written almost two years ago by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja. It consists in creating an "off-chain" system (outside the Bitcoin blockchain) by forming autonomous payment channels, which will "unload" this blockchain. The Lightning Network could, ideally, handle several thousand BTC transactions per second, without having to touch the protocol of this network.
Three independent teams, ACINQ, Blockstream, and Lightning Labs announced at the beginning of December that they managed to conduct the first transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain based on the Lightning Network.
On the Bitrefill side, this is the first time that a "real" purchase is set up in Bitcoins through the Lightning Network.
Bitrefill's CEO, Segej Kotliar, told news.bitcoin.com the reasons why his teams took an interest in this technology:
"As we all know, blockchains are not currently able to 'scaler' enough to support 'retail' payments. They imply a compromise between decentralization and efficiency.
The Lightning is a tool that allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds - an excellent 'customer experience' (both fast and inexpensive), but also a safekeeping of funds without a trusted third party [trustless '].
He said his teams would strive to support the development of the Lightning Network: "That's why we are particularly interested in using it as a means of payment, and we want to do everything we can to help His development".
Bitrefill allows you to buy Steam games with Bitcoins
Kotliar said the integration into a "real" case had been easier than expected, and his company was determined to take advantage of this technology:
"For starters, we set up the possibility of buying on Bitrefill thanks to the Lightning. This is the simplest integration for us. The next step will be to fully support the Lightning (both sending and receiving) within our users' accounts. "
The leader seems to know that his society has a role to play in facilitating the arrival of this protocol:
"Problems with new technologies and innovation are common when you start implementing things that are in production. This is where the main problems usually appear. We are a small company, but we think it is important to help as we can. In our case, it is at least implement this new technology - since it is available - and test it. But all the credit goes to the developers of the Lightning protocol. "
The Bitrefill service had already been talked about recently. He had come to the rescue of PC gamers, after the announcement of the company Steam had indicated that it would no longer support Bitcoin payments.
"I can not share the revenue numbers with you, but the sale of Steam credits far exceeded all our expectations," enthused Mr. Kotliar. "We plan to add other types of products very soon."
Since December 20, 2017, Bitrefill offers Internet users the opportunity to use the Lightning Network on the "testnet" of Bitcoin. Do not hesitate to consult this tutorial which presents the steps to follow.