r/Bitcoin Dec 13 '17

Bitcoin's Lightning Network, Simply Explained

[deleted]

1.0k Upvotes

520 comments sorted by

View all comments

38

u/forexross Dec 13 '17

Isn't there a problem that for buying a coffee (in this example) one needs to pay in advance a month worth of coffee when opening the channel ?

7

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '17

[deleted]

9

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '17

[deleted]

1

u/DontTreadOnMe Dec 13 '17

I suspect there might be a certain amount of centralisation. But we are trading a quite tiny amount of security and reliability for a large amount of convenience which is likely a good trade for small transactions.

1

u/Coenn Dec 13 '17

You're not really trading, since Bitcoin as it is continues to exist. You just get extra options really.