The Lightning network is not based on advanced Bitcoin scripting, in the sense that Bitcoin script makes it possible or something. Bitcoin script is, rather, an impediment which has added a huge amount of complexity to Lightning. The same principle expressed without Bitcoin script can be explained in a few minutes[1]
Re:Bitcoin Is Dead, Long Live Bitcoin
by josephpoon on Saturday January 16, 2016 @03:08AM
(#10914673)
You are wrong. Lightning works by using smart contract logic. For Bitcoin in particular, that involves using Bitcoin scripting using real Bitcoin transactions.
That blogpost is basically describing lightning. Lightning Network has explicitly described instant cross-chain swaps privately, and publicly for many months.
Yes, and on a platform that allows for arbitrary logic, like a Turing-complete blockchain, or just a regular server, Lightning-like transactions are trivial. They can be described in minutes, and implemented in weeks. Due to the limitations of Bitcoin script, Lightning takes 60 pages to describe and is still not implemented. It's a revolutionary concept, hobbled by an antiquated platform.
> VISA level transaction rates require insanely high block sizes
No. There are many other ways to scale bitcoin.
>Lightning Network is..based around advanced Bitcoin scripting usage
Rather quite the opposite. Lightning Network does not uses the bitcoin scripting.
Re:Bitcoin Is Dead, Long Live Bitcoin
by josephpoon on Saturday January 16, 2016 @03:09AM
(#10914675)
Lightning Network for Bitcoin uses Bitcoin's scripting, as it uses real Bitcoin transactions.
Re:Bitcoin Is Dead, Long Live Bitcoin
by undefined0 on Friday January 15, 2016 @07:17PM
(#10913376)
On topic of LN, I feel that is the best approach from a privacy perspective. It's unnecessary to make every single transaction in the foreseeable future get appended to the blockchain and it sounds Orwellian.
The limits on transaction size have been known since the beginning of Bitcoin. VISA level transaction rates require insanely high block sizes, much larger than those proposed so far. People have come up with many, many different solutions to this problem.
One thrown around a lot is the lightning network [1], but it's not really a "reserve currency" in this case - it's a way to prevent a bunch of intermediate transactions from entering the blockchain forever, but it's based around advanced Bitcoin scripting usage, so it's using Bitcoin for much more than just a backing value.
Keep in mind that Bitcoin currently has a $6 billion USD market cap. Breaking Bitcoin would reduce that to $0. Many people have strong motivations to be conservative with changes...
[1] https://lightning.network/