Scaling Bitcoin: Lightning Network

This is the first piece of a Bitcoin research series, where we will be exploring the technical details and growth of scaling solutions built atop the Bitcoin blockchain. There are various scaling solutions for Bitcoin, from built-on-top Layer 2s to state channels, each with their own respective trade-offs, which will be examined in this series.

This piece will focus on Bitcoin's Lightning Network, a state channel-based scaling solution that allows users to transact with other users multiple times before settling on the Bitcoin blockchain. Doing so allows users to amortize their transaction fee on the Layer 1 chain, in this case, Bitcoin, over multiple transactions, thereby reducing the fees incurred for the end-users.