Reshab AgarwalCash app is one of the most popular services offered by Jack Dorsey’s company, Square. It was first launched in 2013, and since then, the platform has grown a lot. The initial idea of the cash app was to be a peer-to-peer payment service that one can use to pay for goods/services and transfer money to friends and family. Then in 2017, it added more features, one of which was the Bitcoin purchasing and payment option. And now Square’s Cash App will roll out the Bitcoin lightning network to its 36 million users.
How is this step by Cash App going to be revolutionary?
The Bitcoin lightning network has been one of the biggest revolutions in the field of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. While BTC has always been accused of being slow for transactions, the lightning network changed it. It brings the 3 most essential things to Bitcoin. The first is instant payments, as the speed of transactions is reduced to a few seconds. Then comes scalability, which means that the network will be able to support millions and even billions of transactions per second. In fact, the cost of transactions is also very low and can even be ignored.
The only problem with the lightning network is that only a few platforms support it. And this is why it has still not reached the masses. This is why Square’s cash app bringing this feature is going to be a game-changer for the company and Bitcoin. It can make using BTC as a payment option so much easier and feasible in the US.
How does the Bitcoin lighting network work?
When transactions happen on Bitcoin’s blockchain, they are validated by miners, but in the case of the lightning network, things work differently. In this case, a peer-to-peer payment channel is enabled between the sender and the receiver. Once the connection happens, any number of transactions can be done, which makes them instant and cheap. The lightning network builds an individual ledger and doesn’t add anything to the main network. To make a channel for payment, the sender needs to lock in some Bitcoin, and they can make payments thereafter based on the invoices. The connection between the sender and receiver can be kept open if BTC is locked in the network consistently.
What are your thoughts on the Bitcoin lightning network that will soon roll out on Square’s cash app? And do you also consider this to be revolutionary? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like and share it with your friends.
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