The Lightning Network is somewhat of a Holy Grail for the Bitcoin network. Without proper scaling, the world’s leading cryptocurrency will not go very far. It is evident a solution needs to be found sooner rather than later. With the Lightning Network, a lot of problems can effectively be solved. A beta version of the Zap LN wallet is now available on the testnet as we speak. This is a positive development, although a lot of testing is needed, for obvious reasons.

A lot of people have high hopes for Bitcoin once it started to scale. So far, that has not happened in the slightest. The activation of SegWit has not been all that positive. Nor has it had a negative impact, other than causing the Bitcoin Cash hard fork. It is evident this foundation for scaling Bitcoin will have a role to play in the future. That is, assuming the Lightning Network will be stable enough to be deployed on the live network in the future.

More Lightning Network Progress Materializes

Right now, that is not the case just yet. A lot of testing is going on behind the scenes. A few issues have been reported regarding lost funds and payment channels not closing properly.  This is why solutions like these are deployed on a testnet first and foremost. With a new LN-capable wallet in beta to play around with, that testing will hopefully intensify. More users who experiment with this technology can only be considered to be a good thing.

With Zap now in beta, it will be interesting to see what the future holds. Transacting on the Lightning Network is still not exactly user-friendly. With a convenient wallet GUI, that situation will vastly improve. However, the developers want to collect more feedback and hopefully iron out any lingering bugs. With this progress materializing already, things are looking pretty good. The world’s first LN-based purchase of physical goods was completed not that long ago as well.

It is obvious the Lightning Network needs to succeed. Without it, Bitcoin will effectively be dethroned as the world’s leading cryptocurrency. Even with the LN active, that may still happen, for all we know. It will take some time until this scaling solution is ready for primetime use. Right now, that can take anywhere from a few months to multiple years. Interested parties can check out the Zap beta wallet on GitHub.

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