Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is an open-source, decentralized system designed to enable instant, high-volume micropayments with extremely low fees. It operates as a second layer on top of a blockchain like Bitcoin, addressing scalability limitations by allowing participants to create off-chain payment channels. The concept was first outlined in a whitepaper by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja in 2015. It is not a single company but a protocol with multiple independent, interoperable implementations developed and maintained by various companies and individual contributors, such as Lightning Labs (LND), Blockstream (Core Lightning), and ACINQ (Eclair). Its mission is to make blockchain-based payments practical for everyday transactions.