***A Shortsegments explainer post.***
## Bitcoin Lightening A second level or sidechain tool called Bitcoin Lightening
- If you. are familiar with the Hive Blockchain, and it's side chain called Hive-Engine, which is a sidechain of Hive, so it is connected to the Hive blockchain, but it allows functionality not possible on the Hive Blockchain. 
- LBitcoin Lightening or more precisely it's actual name **Lightening Network** is very similar to Hive-Engine in that it is a side chain of the Bitcoin blockchain, which has functionality that Bitcoin doesn't have.
- The main functionalities that Lightening brings to the Bitcoin ecosystem is **(1) Speed** and **(2) lower transaction speeds**.

## Instant Payments or Fast Transaction Speed
- Lightening is stated by multiple sources to be faster then the fastest transaction processing network in the world run by Visa Credit Card Services, a multi-billion dollar global corporation.
- The Visa Credit Card Network is reported to have a top speed of one million transactions per second or **1 million TPS**
- The Lightening Network or Bitcoin Lightening as it is commonly known reportedly has a speed of **one million transactions per second**, but has the potential to run at speeds of **47 million transactions per second**.
- Both of these Networkds are faster then the Bitcoin blockchain, whose fastest speed is 7 transactions per second.
- In defense of Bitcoin, I should mention that when Bitcoin was invented, it was compared to human transaction speed, as there were no cryptocurrency blockchains to compare it to. And the fastest human transaction speed was one transaction per 15 minutes. So Bitcoins speed of 420 per minute or over 6000 transactions in 15 minutes was considered very, very fast.
[source 1](https://www.google.com/search?q=HOw+fast+is+BItcoin+Lightening+in+terms+of+TPS+transactions+per+second&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS962US962&oq=HOw+fast+is+BItcoin+Lightening+in+terms+of+TPS+transactions+per+second&aqs=chrome..69i57.23254j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
[source 2](https://bitpay.com/blog/what-is-the-lightning-network/)
[source 3](https://medium.com/coinmonks/how-does-bitcoin-get-scalable-with-the-lightning-network-63591040462c)
[source 4](https://d-central.tech/bitcoins-lightning-network-from-seven-to-40-million-tps/)
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## Microtransactions
- The Lightening Network or BItcoin Lightening allows you to make trnsactions in Satoshis!
- A Satoshi is 0.00000001 Bitcoin
- A remarkably small unit of a Bitcoin, which makes small payments for items like food, groceries, and other forms of goods and services purchasable and transactable cheaply on Lightening.
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## Last Words
The Lightening Network is like Hive's own side chain Hive-Engine, in that it can do things the main chain cannot do. 
Lightening allows fast instant payments in tiny amounts cheaply, so that actual goods and services can be paid for in Bitcoin. This is the vision or dream of Satoshi Nakamoto, that Bitcoin would be a sound money for the people, free from the cons of Fiat currency, and free from the control of governments.
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#### @shortsegments
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Posted using [IceBreak](https://icebrk.io/@shortsegments/bitcoin-lightening-a-brief-explainer)

## My Blockchain Core Concept Explainer Series:

1. [What is a Blockchain](https://hive.blog/hive-180571/@shortsegments/5xcdqf-blockchain)
2. [Transparency](https://hive.blog/hive-167922/@shortsegments/blockchain-transparency-a-duel-edge-sword)-
3. [Immutability](https://hive.blog/hive-180571/@shortsegments/blockchain-core-principle-immutability)
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### Other Good Articles Explaining Blockchain Technology
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1. [Blockchain Journalist: Understanding Blockchain Technology](https://hive.blog/hive-167922/@wealthwess/blockchain-journalist-understanding-blockchain-technology)
2. [The Rise of Bitcoin: Unveiling the Revolutionary Power of Cryptocurrency](https://hive.blog/hive-167922/@lebey1/the-rise-of-bitcoin-unveiling-the-revolutionary-power-of-cryptocurrency)
3. [Bitcoin Lightening: a brief explainer.](https://hive.blog/brk/@shortsegments/bitcoin-lightening-a-brief-explainer)