If you follow the world of cryptocurrencies on a regular basis, you've likely heard of the Lightning Network. Still, many are unaware of what it is, what it does, or why it is relevant. It's been around for more than a split second, so in crypto terms, it's almost old news. But, there's a lot to know about Lightning, and one of those things I found of interest is it's usefulness for more coins than just Bitcoin.

The Lightning Network would be the most well-known of a technology named layer-2 solutions. This can also be called a side-chain.

The idea is to reduce the issues that clog, and bog-down the Bitcoin network. Most altcoins have not run into the same issues of congestion, but think of it like a highway during rush hour, or a bottleneck; the standard flow of information comes in at too high a rate to be resolved either by capacity or rate. Bitcoin has resolved this historically by simply taking longer for transactions, and charging higher fees; like our highway scenario, think of a toll-road pass to get through the traffic in record time.

Second layers, or side-chains as they are also categorized, take duties off of the main chain and resolve them separately, sending the data back to the main network. This resolves congested data but handles the transactions as well. What you may not be aware of, is that this is a solution showing positive signs for other coins as well.

Litecoin and Lightning Network

Scalability is a pressing issue for most cryptocurrencies in the market and Litecoin - which on many occasions has been referred to as ‘the silver to Bitcoin’s gold’ - is no exception. Litecoin has always been one of Bitcoin’s direct rivals, attracting users with its $0.40 transaction fee besides everything else... Lightning Labs’ implementation of the Lightning Network which launched on March 15 went live on both Bitcoin’s and Litecoin’s blockchains.

Ethereum and Raiden

The Ethereum network is faring better than Bitcoin in terms of the amount of transactions per second it’s able to process. It’s maximum capacity stands at around 20 transactions per second, which is nearly three times more than that of Bitcoin.

The concept of Raiden is very similar to that of the Lightning Network: it provides an extra layer outside of the main blockchain where users can create two-way channels to conduct instant, nearly free and safe transactions.

One major difference between the two is that Raiden is ERC20 compatible, which means that every single token issued on Ethereum - and there are hundreds of them - will work with Raiden.

Currently there’s no concrete date set for the mainstream rollout. Raiden was launched on Ethereum’s testnet in September 2017, after which the team behind it held an ICO and raised around $50 mln for further development.

But, in December 2017 a lighter version of the protocol called µRaiden (pronounced “Micro Raiden”) was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. Essentially, it does the same thing by facilitating instant, trustless - meaning you don’t have to trust or even know the other person - and free transactions.

The difference here is that the main Raiden protocol administers a network of two-way channels, while µRaiden allows someone to open a payment channel that is able to transfer tokens in one direction only. Those are extremely useful for micropayments, like paying for a cup of coffee.

ZCash and BOLT

Lightning Network will make transactions on all-transparent blockchains like Bitcoin a little bit more private, as all the micropayments made via its two-way channels don’t need to be broadcasted to the entire network. Still, the channel’s opening and closure will leave records of both participating parties as well as the initial and final splits of funds.

ZCash is a cryptocurrency network aimed at providing its customers with enhanced privacy and anonymity, so in order to scale their blockchain they had to develop their own solution. ZCash’s proposed extra layer is called ‘BOLT’ and is fully inspired by the Lightning Network.

What BOLT will do differently from the Lightning Network is that it aims to make the transitions performed within a channel unlinkable. It will be able to do so by utilizing two classic cryptography techniques: commitments - which will hide the value of the payment, and signatures - which will allow users to sign for transactions without revealing what exactly is being signed.

Ripple and Lightning Network

...Ripple... doesn’t actually need an extra layer to scale, as it... handles 1,500 transactions per second and it can be scaled to match Visa’s throughput.

However, back in August 2017 Ripple along with Bitfury, a full-service blockchain technology company, released a code that integrated Lightning Network into Interledger. Interledger is Ripple’s protocol developed to enable transactions between different blockchains.

These are just the most prominent coins already integrating the Lightning Network's offerings. Others include NEO, Trinity, and Stellar (XLM). The list gets longer, but the important thing to notice is that the highest ranking coins are all placing their confidence in the solutions already provided, and certainly there is more on the way.

As we approach the next momentous Bitcoin halving event in 2020, the potential for the need to scale is right around the corner. One can hope it is necessary to test the network in action at maximum capacity, and if it is a plus for speed and doesn't lead to any security issue, we are entering the next phase in the chronology of crypto.

The original article can be found here:

https://cointelegraph.com/lightning-network-101/altcoins-with-lightning-network-support