Author: Roy Sheinfeld, Bitcoin Magazine; Compiler: Wuzhu, Golden Finance
There is a fact now that will irreversibly affect the future: The Lightning Network is becoming the universal language of the Bitcoin economy.
Universal language between subnets
We have discussed various "last mile" technologies before. They are like local secondary roads that connect users to the higher throughput Lightning Network and ultimately to the Bitcoin mainnet. They all basically work by bundling users and their transactions into subnets.
For example, Ark and Liquid convert incoming Bitcoin into their own mechanisms (VTXO and L-BTC, respectively), which users can then send to each other according to their respective protocols without further on-chain transactions. Alternatively, Fedimint members effectively pool their Bitcoin and trade IOUs between them, with transactions and financial status supervised by a trusted alliance of guardians. With Cashu, people can exchange electronic cash tokens and trust the issuing authority.
Each subnetwork can use its own language. How nodes in these subnetworks communicate with each other is their own business. Interestingly, these subnetworks communicate with each other over the Lightning Network, even if we’re just talking about two different Cashu mints or Fedi interacting with Ark. The Lightning Network is the lingua franca for all of the emerging and thriving subnetworks built on top of Bitcoin.
Going back to the analogy, it doesn’t matter to me what language you speak at home or in the supermarket. You can speak any obscure dialect you want to anyone who can understand you. But if you want to talk to me or pretty much anyone on Telegram or Slack, English is really the only option. No one can change that even if they wanted to, and no one seems to want to. Just like Lightning.
The Lightning Network is the lingua franca for all of the emerging subnetworks.
Going back to the analogy, it doesn’t matter to me what language you speak at home or in the supermarket. You can speak whatever obscure dialect you want to anyone who can understand you. But if you want to talk to me or pretty much anyone on Telegram or Slack, English is really the only option. No one can, and no one seems to want to, even if they wanted to. Just like Lightning.
The Lightning Network is the lingua franca for the emerging subnetworks. It’s the language of Bitcoin.
Why Lightning is the best language for Bitcoin
A general purpose language doesn’t have to be the best language. It just has to work and be widely accepted. Just like the Bitcoin main chain has certain advantages (e.g., immutability, openness, borderlessness, etc.) that recommend it for certain uses, Lightning is the best choice for a general purpose language between subnetworks for at least three reasons.
Lightning is Bitcoin, a trustless bearer asset
The first and most important reason Lightning is the best general purpose language is that it uses Bitcoin. Simply put, subnetworks may not trust each other, and they have no reason to. But because Bitcoin and Lightning both shy away from trust, subnetworks can interact without it. Bitcoin is the only viable bearer asset, and Lightning is the language of Bitcoin, so Lightning is the best universal language for subnetworks to interact with each other.
In addition, Like Bitcoin, Lightning eschews leverage. The entire business model of fractional reserve banks is based on holes in their balance sheets. In contrast, every SAT on the Lightning Network is recorded every moment. The balance sheet showing all positions on the network will always be balanced. No gaps, no overlaps. Lightning can resist imbalances caused by hubris, incompetence, and evil, which is a necessary feature in a trustless environment.
Lightning is inherently transactional and interoperable
Second, Lightning is a transactional protocol designed to facilitate liquidity. For normal payments, there is no mempool, no delays until the next block is mined. Payments take just seconds, if that. And transactions—mobile money—are what makes Lightning valuable. Static currency on the network earns nothing in return. For liquidity to grow on Lightning, it has to flow. If a common language encourages silence, it won’t be widely used. It has to facilitate communication, which is exactly what Lightning does.
Furthermore, Lightning technology, detailed in the bolt specification directory, is inherently interoperable. It is designed to support multiple Lightning node implementations with different designs, tradeoffs, and programming languages. However, all of these nodes can interact through a public network because they all support the same bolt. Interoperability by design makes it easy for other technologies to add the Lightning Network as just another interface.
Lightning Has Critical Mass
Finally, a common language needs to have a sizable community of speakers. Try saying “skibidi rizz” in a retirement home, or better yet, say “skibidi rizz” in a retirement home in Cambodia. English’s greatest strength may be its ubiquity: more people speak it than any other language on Earth. While many countries have only a quarter of their residents speaking English, you can still find English speakers next door to nearly every bar and restaurant on Earth.
The Lightning Network has reached critical mass. It’s already clear how the Cashu subnetwork and the Fedimint subnetwork will talk to each other: Lightning. That’s how they’re designed, so switching the lingua franca between the networks would require rebuilding large parts of both. Just like English, whatever language the subnetworks use internally, Lightning is the language they use to talk to each other, and it’s locked in.
The Foreverness of the Lightning Network
Real lightning—the kind in storm clouds—is a notoriously fleeting phenomenon. A flash and then gone is all there is to it. But the Lightning Network—the interface between any number of nodes, subnetworks, and the Bitcoin mainchain—is not going away. The lingua franca tends to stay that way for centuries.
Bitcoin is the best money in the world. Lightning is the lingua franca of the Bitcoin world, and it’s here to stay. For those of us who have already entrenched ourselves in Lightning, this is very good news. The fact that Lightning is locked in means our first-mover advantage will be very valuable.
But it’s also great news for those who are new to the Lightning Network or are considering getting in. It removes the uncertainty about which technology to support and invest in. The Lightning Network is only going up, so now is never a bad time to start. Yesterday was better than today, today is better than tomorrow, but tomorrow is good too.
Now is the best time to get into the Lightning Network. It always has been.
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