In the previous article, I discussed how CKB, through its own characteristics of PoW + UTXO, combined with the RGB++ protocol, has become an ideal L2 for Bitcoin, and what CKB is currently achieving goes far beyond this. Beyond the RGB++ protocol, in another major track of BTC L2—the Lightning Network—CKB has also made significant technological breakthroughs and built future use scenarios for the Lightning Network from a new perspective.
Like RGB/RGB++, the Lightning Network is also recognized by BTC purists as a form of L2 implementation. It establishes 'payment channels' that allow transactions to not require full on-chain recording; instead, only the most critical parts, namely the final account settlement and balance changes, need to be recorded on-chain.
For the specific details of the CKB Lightning Network, you can refer to my previous work published in Binance Square: Four years of meticulous craftsmanship, Nervos sets a brilliant gem on blockchain—Interpretation of Fiber Network Light Paper
At the time of this article's publication, the Lightning Network Fiber Network built by CKB had just completed the release of its initial version testnet, and it has now successfully launched a full node testnet and integrated with the JoyID wallet, launching a Lightning Network wallet testing system. Meanwhile, the future comprehensive rollout of the Lightning Network by CKB is also progressing well; Fi5Box has already achieved support for the BTC Lightning Network and will support Fiber immediately.
When the Lightning Network is mentioned, most people will think of 'small-value high-frequency payments', but the potential of Lightning goes far beyond this; I prefer to call it 'value transmission with consensus.' From the perspective of design philosophy, 'value transmission with consensus' has a much broader practical space and a higher application ceiling than small-value high-frequency payments.
What is 'small-value high-frequency payment'? A commonly used use case is the interaction in offline supermarkets—assuming that blockchain currency is used for purchasing everyday items, a 'channel' can be established between the supermarket and the user via the Lightning Network, allowing interactions between the two without the need to chain every transaction; instead, a unified on-chain settlement can occur after a period of time, similar to 'monthly settlements' in daily life.
What is 'value transmission with consensus'? It can be broken down into two parts.
First, 'having consensus' means the existence of trust. In life, whether it's monthly settlements, credit, or other scenarios that do not involve immediate settlement, there is a certain level of trust between both parties, for example, in transactions between friends, neighbors, or long-term business partners. In the world of blockchain, due to the anonymity and decentralization of blockchain, the designers of the transaction network naturally design under the premise of no trust between the parties, broadcasting all transactions on-chain to all network nodes to ensure the immutability of transactions. However, when blockchain technology is applied to the real world, both the mutual trust between people offline and the guarantees made by a real entity regarding transaction security can replace the need for securing transactions through on-chain methods. Compared to security, the parties involved in the transaction pay more attention to the efficiency and cost of the transaction; not to mention that in reality, some parties may not wish for every transaction to be public due to privacy concerns. Therefore, the emergence of off-chain transactions aligns with real-world scenarios.
Second, 'value transmission' means the diversification of the transmitted objects and the atomization of value. Gold and BTC have value due to consensus, while the dollar and government bonds acquire value through the backing of political entities' credit consensus. If we view the world from the perspective of consensus, then the existence of value, apart from financial products, depends on the existence of consensus. Taking some illiquid meme coins as an example, they have no value to me, but their value is recognized within their community. Therefore, the value carriers circulating on the Lightning Network can be diverse; as long as they meet the criteria of 'mutual trust + value recognition,' many carriers can be transmitted via the Lightning Network. If the transmission demand is also small-value and high-frequency, then the adoption of the Lightning Network can bring significant benefits—this is also one of the reflections of the price atomization advantage brought by the Lightning Network. In the traditional value transmission process, whether in traditional Web2 trading systems or blockchain technology, transactions experience fees and other frictions. When the value of the transaction target approaches or even falls below the friction, people's willingness to trade is greatly suppressed. Moreover, traditional trading models are limited by transaction scale, lacking the ability to finely price objects with subtle values. However, the Lightning Network can maximize the avoidance of friction while using blockchain technology to make transactions more precise, meeting people's trading needs.
In the landscape of the Lightning Network ecosystem, there are quite a few builders who share the same views. Some teams combine the Lightning Network with streaming media, optimizing the incentive and tipping mechanisms for creators, addressing the issues of lacking micro-tipping channels for readers and insufficient motivation for creators in the traditional streaming industry; some teams are exploring how to enhance the experience of P2P software downloads through the combination of the Lightning Network and P2P; other teams are researching the applications of the Lightning Network in social scenarios, innovating with meme coins and Web3 community governance facilities... It can be said that the implementation of the Lightning Network may bring about structural changes in real life, and by then, $CKB will surely not disappoint the attention it receives.
