Post
Topic
Board Development & Technical Discussion
Re: Lightning Network Discussion Thread
by
DooMAD
on 30/07/2018, 23:04:28 UTC
Just read this Blockstream blog, and I am excited to see growing research on scaling solution and how things would really different (read awesome) down the line.

eltoo: A Simplified Update Mechanism for Lightning and Off-Chain Contracts

https://blockstream.com/2018/04/30/eltoo-next-lightning.html

Yeah, biggest thing to happen in Lightning development since channel factories.


This demonstrates:

1. Lightning isn't perfect as per the 2015 original specification
2. It can be improved, and the developers know what the weaknesses are and are thinking carefully how to redesign optimally

It will take time, but the end product should be easier to use than regular Bitcoin clients. And this will be huge for Bitcoin's competitiveness as a currency, it could be like using gold with a debit card, where the actual bullion is under the complete control of the individual.

As I'm not a developer, in layman's terms, how complicated a task is it to mash all the different Lightning ideas together and keep it all compatible, over multiple dev teams with their own implementations?  We've got Channel Factories, Eltoo, Atomic Multi-Path, Atomic Swaps, Watchtowers and probably a few other interesting ideas besides.  I'm amazed by all the ingenuity on display with this stuff.  The only small downside is that every new idea will probably mean it takes that little bit longer to reach the stage where it's all seamlessly integrated and relatively user-friendly.  A price worth paying, for sure, though.