After a first transaction last month, which had allowed a user to afford a mobile phone recharge through the site BitRefill, this is probably the first object purchased through the Lightning Network. After opening a payment channel, the buyer was able to benefit from an "instant and free" transaction.
"Lightning": faster and less expensive transactions on the Bitcoin network
The "Bitcoin-enthusiasts" are thrilled.
While eagerly awaiting the generalization of Lightning Network payment channels - which will benefit from extremely low transaction fees and deadlines - user btc_throwaway1337 indicated on Reddit that there was recourse to purchase a physical product .
Was this the first physical item purchased on Lightning Network? ⚡️https://t.co/tSq8mOcCSX
TorGuard (@TorGuard) 19 janvier 2018
This is what he said:
"I used the Lightning Network mainnet (via Lightning Network Daemon) to offer me an AR300M VPN router with TorGuard, and here it is! This is probably the first physical purchase affected with the Lightning Network.
He explained that "everything was easy, without difficulty, and, more importantly, instant and without cost!"
He also shared the details of the transaction, which show that he had to pay 0.0002109 BTC (about $ 2.50) to open this payment channel.
In addition, since TorGuard had already opened channels with certain users, it was able to use the same channel to send and receive nearly a dozen payments.
TorGuard is a provider of VPNs, proxies and e-mail services.
The arrival of Lightning Network nodes and payment channels
The arrival of Lightning Network nodes and payment channels
Explanation of the Lightning Network with BitcoinThe Lightning Network is a decentralized system. It offers the opportunity for participants to create channels to make multiple payments between them, without the need for a trusted third party.
"What is the Lightning Network?"
These channels evolve outside the Bitcoin blockchain. Once the payment channel is closed, the transactions are "materialized" on the Bitcoin network:
As of this writing, 83 knots and 175 channels could be counted around the Bitcoin blockchain for a total capacity of more than 144,093,168 satoshis (more than $ 17,000).
However, this is an experimental technology - for the time being, no publicly available portfolios allow transactions to be made on the Bitcoin mainnet, relying on the Lightning Network. However, with the arrival of an increasing number of nodes and payment channels, it is likely that many users will soon be offered the opportunity to benefit from much faster and much cheaper transactions.
With the arrival of the Lightning Network, coupled with Segwit (who is expected to benefit the LN, and whose adoption rate has more than doubled recently), to Schnorr's signatures and other innovations, Bitcoin could soon face the the most pressing problem he is currently facing: scaling up.