It has been coming for quite some time now, but the Thunder Network is finally here. The announcement was made by Blockchain.info earlier today, as this release will serve as a faster, cheaper, and more functional network.
Back in 2015, Blockchain.info hired a new talented engineer by the name of Mats Jerratsch, who is well-known for working on payment channels. The reason why this company hired him is so he could collaborate with the Blockchain.info engineers on a new network to allow for super-charged payments through smart contracts.
This is not the first time such a proposal is made, as various developers are working on other implementations of the Lightning Network as well. However, Thunder Network is the first type of network that is released to the public, rather than sitting in a controlled environment. The alpha version has officially been released to the public, which is a usable implementation of the Lightning Network for off-chain Bitcoin payments.
As a result of this release, Blockchain.info hopes to facilitate secure, trustless, and instant payments in the Bitcoin world. Even though this technology allows for instant transfers of value around the world, network confirmations can take up to several hours. Thunder Network should – in theory – speed up this process, as well as bring other tools to the table.
Micropayments will become a possibility as well, and the Bitcoin network will be able to handle a significant increase in transactions without much issues. Additionally, Thunder Network will enhance user privacy, a feature often sought after by a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. With a better-than-Visa scale and incredibly affordable payments, the future’s looking bright for this project.
For the time being, transactions are not enforceable on the Bitcoin protocol level, until both CSV and Segregated Witness are implemented in full. The alpha release of Thunder Network should be seen as a prototype for transactions among a trust network of users, but not for real payments. More information can be found on this website.
Source: Blockchain.info
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