Historical Review

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto with the paper "A peer to peer electronic cash system" ignited the blockchain revolution that changed the way we perceive digital money as a mean of transaction.

Eventually, Satoshi Nakamoto incorporated many technological novelties in Bitcoin such as the anonymity of the transaction, the decentralisation of the blockchain cutting off the control of the centralised traditional banking system but also solved the notorious "Byzantine Generals problem" providing enhanced security of the Blockchain against adversaries. Yes, Bitcoin is good, it is very good, it is a revolution against the establishment of the central banks, however it lacks a very important aspect that makes it exceptionally super and easy to use it for its original purpose which is a trustless electronic cash system for everyday commercial transactions between 2 peers, a merchant and a customer, without the intervention of a central government authority. That major drawback is the fact that Bitcoin isn't scalable because the Bitcoin Mainnet is slow allowing only a mere of 7 transactions per second! 

How it could have been possible for the Bitcoin network to maintain its original design and still serve as a high-speed network for every day micropayments such as paying for example for a cup of coffee at your favourite coffee shop on your way to your job?

Layer 1 Solutions

This is where the so-called chain wars begun with the emergence of Proof of Work (PoW) altcoins, such as Bitcoin Cash, LiteCoin, Dash or even Meme-coins such as DogeCoin. And all these PoW altcoins focused on how it will be possible to reduce the execution time of every transaction by simply increasing the capacity of their blockchain blocks (scalability). However, neither resulted in an effective way to balance the Blockchain Trilemma, emphasizing the challenge of scaling Bitcoin as a payment network through its existing Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm.

On the other hand, Vitalik Buterin attempted to transition its Ethereum Network from the traditional bulky Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism, to the significantly quicker and much more energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism. This transition is known as ETH 2.0 introducing an innovative technology known as sharding.

Layer 2 Solutions

The general idea of Layer 2 solutions is to build a secondary infrastructure that it is able to interact with a fundamental base blockchain but not be restricted by its scaling limitations. And this is where there the differences between on-chain (Layer 1) and off-chain (Layer 2) blockchain networks begins.

Lighting Network is an example of a Layer 2 Bitcoin service i.e. a Bitcoin-based off-chain approach proposed by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja in 2016 on their paper with title "The Bitcoin Lightning Network: Scalable Off-Chain Instant Payments", removing theoretically the burden of microtransactions on the Bitcoin blockchain.

What actually happens is that the two parties need to agree to changes in their balances without the obligation of passing these changes to the bitcoin blockchain immediately.

The advantages of Blockchain Layer-2 services such as the Lighting Network in its complete development, include everything every blockchain enthusiast including Satoshi Nakamoto, could ever dream for everyday cryptomicropayments between 2 peers such as:

• Speed of transaction within milliseconds or seconds,
• Significantly low transaction fees making it ideal for ideal for small payments and high-frequency transactions
• extended scalability of the Blockchain allowing the execution of millions of transactions per second through the interconnected payment channels
• Interoperability allowing cross-chain atomic swaps and
• Enhanced enhancing user confidentiality and privacy of the transactions since only the opening and closing of a payment channel are recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Unfortunately, Layer-2 services only serve a specific Blockchain Network, i.e. a separate Layer-2 service for Bitcoin, another for Ethereum etc and until today they only handle a tiny fraction of the on-chain transactions through mostly unfriendly user interfaces. Yet, the most significant problem, is the risk of emerging powerful hubs on the network risking it's security as well as risking the re-introduction of centralisation to the system bringing the Blockchain Trilemma again into jeopardy.

Get Paid in the Lighting Network

Starting from the legendary Freebitco.in and MoonBitcoin in the previous decade, so far I have been using for years Faucets and PTC sites that rewards its users in Bitcoin or in another major altcoin such as LTC, DASH, DOGE, TRX, SOL etc. You can find the whole collection of these sites and applications in my blog website www.cryptomonkey.weebly.com. Still, although I am a fanatic HODLER in terms of my crypto profits preferring to stake them rather than liquify them for inflationary FIAT money, no matter how inflated the electricity bill arrives at my door, I have discovered lately a collection of Faucets, PTC sites and smartphone apps that provide earnings on the Lighting network. And the reason that these earning sites attracted my attention is that I hope that one day, when crypto adoption would have been globally spread, to be able to buy my morning cup of coffee, not with FIAT money or with my precious Bitcoins (although that wasn't Satoshi Nakamoto's Vision) but with Bitcoin on the Lighting Network since that was actually Satoshi Nakamoto's Vision for the development of Bitcoin. Therefore, I won't have to miss the morning bus or train on my way to work and arrive there late, waiting for a whole 10 minutes at the coffee shop for the transaction to be confirmed from the bitcoin nodes and get registered on the Bitcoin ledger.

Here, I would like to highlight that in contrast to the usual Bitcoin address form, the Lighting Network address has a human-readable Identifier similar to an email in the form of [email protected], simplifying payments and allowing single-use invoices through the Lighting Network URL Invoice technology but also facilitating recurring payments and automated tipping without manual invoice creations. More information about the Lighting Network Bitcoin addresses can be found on Lighting Network Official Webpage and on the LightSpark Lighting Network Glossary

LiteBits

I can easily brand Litebits as the first Paid-to-click site with earnings paid directly and exclusively on the Lighting Network as its mission is to make LN Bitcoin accessible to everyone through simple, rewarding interactions, bridging the gap between curiosity and crypto-adoption. The user can easily earn from 0.5 to 1.0 (initially it reached up to 5.0) Bitcoin Satoshis in the Lighting Network every 10 minutes but also through the Offerwalls and the Paid-To-Click links sections. There is also a bonus of 10 Satoshis after 7 days of continuous use of the platform.

Withdrawals in Litebits are available after collecting 100 Bitcoin Satoshis and therefore I received my first payment into my Lighting Network Wallet of Satoshi when I withdrew 116 Bitcoin Satoshis using a LNURL Invoice of the transaction (Lighting Network URL). Interestingly, I didn't have to pay any blockchain transfer fees and received the whole amount of my withdrawal.

Cloud Mine Crypto App

An interesting Bitcoin mining app on the Lighting Network is Cloud Mine Crypto App where the user signs "mining contracts of various hashrate speeds for example 5 Gh/s. Of course, the higher the hashrate, the faster the signed contract will mine Bitcoin for the user so the primary goal is to increase the hashrate. Currently, the user can get up to 2 FREE Bitcoin mining contracts, a DAILY Rewards contract and a FREE REGULAR contract that expire every 8 hours and include a loyalty multiplier. After the expiration for the contracts, the user needs to re-activate them to continue mining Bitcoin.

Microtasks such as watching a short video or completing an Offer provide extra mining hashrate of 4.77 Gh/s for 24 hours.

Again here there is a subscription service for higher bitcoin mining rewards when the user signs a PAID contract. Paid contracts also have a continuity multiplier, which is an extra reward on top of the regular earnings of the loyal free users which means the longer the user is keeping the paid contract active, the higher the continuity multiplier will grow. For example, a 2x continuity multiplier will provide double Bitcoin earnings from the contract.

Here, it should be noted that earnings are based on the user's share of Bitcoin network hashrate, which fluctuates continuously due to the amount of miners in the network. Therefore, one day the user might earn 10% and following day the user might get 10% more but in the end the longer is a mining contract active, the higher is the boost that the user receives.

I received my first payment from the Cloud Mine Crypto App when I tried to withdrew 10 Bitcoin Satoshi into my Lighting Network Wallet of Satoshi, just out of curiosity to examine if the platform pays its users and i can say that the withdrawal was successful. Yet, I only received only half of the withdrawal account due to a minimum withdrawal fee of 5 Bitcoin Satoshis from the platform to cover Blockchain transfer fees. So next time, I will try to accumulate a bigger amount before attempting any withdrawal.

Cloud Mine Crypto App is available for both iOS or Android devices in GooglePlay or Apple Store but also as a WebApp. For those who are interested, there is also an apk package free for downloading. If you are interested to mine bitcoin using the Cloud Mine Crypto App, you can use my invitation code ZYmLj80ZZ0xjpRbE.

sMiles, the Proof of Walking, the Proof of Chess and the Proof of Shopping

Proof of Walking

Recently, while browsing the Apple Store, I discovered sMiles, an application that rewards its users with Satoshis on the Lighting Network for tracking their fitness activity and the number of steps they perform everyday. And apart from the Satoshis rewards on the Lighting Network, the sMiles Proof of Walking motivated me to walk more and register my daily walking steps.   

Apart from the step tracking functionality, sMiles app also includes a fun section where the user can earn extra Satoshis by using the faucets of the app or several arcade games sponsored by Ledn. Currently there are 2 faucets available a spin the wheel faucet called SATOSHI'S WHEEL and a tap on faucet called FORT NAKAMOTO. 

Proof of Chess

Proof of Chess is another part of the sMiles app branded as Proof of Chess, where the user can solve chess puzzles guessing the last few chess moves of a random chess play or play a complete chess game against the chess algorithm and earn extra Satoshis as a reward. A very good way to combine the joy of achievement and earn few Satoshis at the same time (instead of watching pointless videos on TikTok) before sleep.

Proof of Shopping

Proof of Shopping is the latest section of sMiles webapp, where the user is incentivised with a percentage cashback when using the relevant affiliate link to make any online purchases for a variety of online stores such as Booking.com, NordVPn, MyProtein, Uphold and even ebay.com. Personally I haven't used it since I rarely do online purchases but it is worth to try it. The sMiles webapp is available on the Chrome Extension Store and it is compatible with any Chrome-based browser such as the CryptoTab Browser, world’s first browser with a built-in mining feature and more than 35 million users.

Earnings

So far, while using the sMiles app I have accumulated and cleared more than 350 Bitcoin Lighting Network Satoshis mostly through the Proof of Walking section and I expect another around 75 of them to be cleared after a period of 30 days. However, withdrawals are available after reaching 1000 Bitcoin Lighting Network Satoshis which is a fair withdrawal limit to avoid any repeating Blockchain network transfer fees but also Withdraw BIG. 

If you are interested to earn bitcoin on the Lighting Network while walking (Proof of Walking) or while playing Chess (Proof of chess) using the sMiles app, or while shopping online (Proof of Shopping) using the sMiles webapp, you can use my invitation code Feax21380.

Slice - You Browse, They Pay?

I joined Slice WebApp on 2023 as an alternative to Brave Ads since the withdrawal of BATs into my Uphold account requiring repeating KYC-identifications doesn't always work very well. And as you read very well, Slice Webapp works at the same way with Brave Ads as a webapp extension for Chrome-based browsers providing popup ads just like the Brave Ads program monetizing your chrome browser and all the chrome-based browsers including Brave Browser but instead of receiving the earnings on BATs, the earnings are accumulated in  Lighting Network Bitcoin Satoshis which appeared to be much more attractive, more profitable and more significantly more ANONIMOUSLY supporting Satoshi Nakamoto's Vision.

Just like in the sMiles Webapp and to prevent fraud, in Slice Webapp there is a 30-day lock period for the earnings before becoming available for withdrawal.

In fact since 2023, I managed to accumulate more then 2233 Slices just for receiving ads on my browser, so it was time to check if they pay for real. Unfortunately, when i tried to withdraw 2000 Slices for Bitcoin Lighting Network Satoshis, the Slice WebApp requests from the user to contact the customer support chatbot? named after the Greek name "Aleksandros" for a manual review. Unfortunately the chatbot didn't want initially to collaborate, serve my withdrawal issue and release my withdrawal after stating several stupid excuses that I need to wait for the 30-days cooldown for the release of my Slices which i have already achieved it but it didn't want to understand it as you can see in the discussion below.

Silvio, another chatbot that entered the conversation, came with another excuse that withdrawals are currently paused and they will be resumed soon without explaining the reason and when the withdrawals will be resumed. After a whole week of waiting, I managed to finally pass the so called "MANUAL REVIEW" and have my withdrawal approved by Silvio and Aleksandros as it is seen in the dialogue below

At least my earnings from Slice Webapp finally arrived in my Wallet of Satoshi Lighting Network wallet almost instantly and not within 3 days. In fact I received a bit more than 2100 Lighting Network Bitcoin Satoshi and precisely 2355 Lighting Network Bitcoin Satoshi after withdrawing my 2100 slices.

That was my experience with Slice Webapp so far and you can make your own opinion about the application. At least it pays even if you have to pass first from customer support chat to convince them that you aren't an elephant.

Final Thoughts

In contrast of the today's use of bitcoin as a "Store of Value", as a "FIAT money Investing Opportunity" or as a "Digital Gold" as it has been advertised by the big "cryptofriendly" private organisations and investing institutions such as BlackRock, MicroStrategy, Morgan Stanley and GoldMan Sachs, Bitcoin was originally developed by Satoshi Nakamoto as a "Peer to Peer electronic Cash System" with its literal meaning as a purpose. That means, it was developed as an electronic cash system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties for example a merchant and a buyer to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party such as a centralised government authority or any other kind of institution. Simply as that!

The apps and websites that were analysed above is only a friction of the Bitcoin Lighting Network capabilities and their main mission is to promote the Bitcoin Lighting Network as a payment system. And it seems that Satoshi Nakamoto's vision for a REAL peer-to-peer electronic cash system has already started to become a reality. According to BitcoinMagazine.com, Compass Coffee Shops have started to accept Bitcoin payments on their Square Terminal shop in Washington, DC and Square a company owned by the well-known cryptofriendly ex-boss of Twitter Jack Dorsey, plans to introduce a Bitcoin wallet solution that will enable local businesses to accept BTC payments with zero fees.

Finally, In my attempt to participate on this crypto-adoption movement, just like street performers do today, I am posting here my Bitcoin Lighting Network address [typicable149@walletofsatoshi] or [[email protected]] encouraging my audience to provide relevant tips as an additional reward after reading my article.  

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