A brief history of the Lightning Network

The Bitcoin community has long been baffled by the scalability issue. The speed of transactions fell, and the network fees grew. In 2015 Thaddeus Dria and Joseph Poon proposed a solution called the Lightning Network. The idea was to carry out some of the transactions outside the network, thereby reducing the load on the BTC blockchain. In 2018, the Lightning Network was launched in Bitcoin.

The Lightning Network is a system that helps users move funds among themselves without having to use a blockchain to verify a transaction. Instead, there is a quick check of funds from the sender and a request from the recipient who agrees to the transaction.

Problems that may arise when sending Lightning Network

1. If an error occurs when you try to send the Lightning Network, then most likely it happened due to the lack of channels. The Lightning Network requires links between nodes. If your wallet allows you to open channels yourself, then you can open a channel with FixedFloat.
   FixedFloat Node:
   037f990e61acee8a7697966afd29dd88f3b1f8a7b14d625c4f8742bd952003a590@lnd.fixedfloat.com:9735
   
   For more information on how to do this, see our article "How to start using the Lightning Network?".
2. If you see a "Payment in transit" message when sending the Lightning Network, it means the Lightning Network has been sent, but there is a problem with intermediate nodes. You need to wait for the final invoice payment or refund.

Lightning Network Speed and Fees

Since transactions on the Lightning Network do not end up on the blockchain, they are almost instantaneous. But if one of the intermediate nodes is off the network, the transaction may be delayed.

The fee depends on the intermediate channels through which the payment passes. Usually it is almost zero. But it so happens that some channels charge a high fee for passing the payment. It can reach up to 1% of the amount.

Monero is the most anonymous cryptocurrency

Monero runs on the CryptoNote algorithm, unlike public blockchains (e.g. Bitcoin, Ethereum etc.), when sending it, you can not see the sender, the recipient, or even the amount that was sent. This is possible due to the use of Ring Signatures and Stealth Addresses technologies.

What to do if you did not receive Monero after the exchange?

First, make sure that the order contains data about the transaction sent. In case there is no transaction data, try to wait a bit or contact technical support. Due to the fact that in the Monero network updates from November 30 at the protocol level, funds are blocked until 10 network confirmations are received, delays in payment may sometimes occur.

Secondly, check the synchronization of your Monero wallet. The last block in the wallet should correspond to the number indicated on the MoneroHash website in the "Blockchain Height" field of the "Network" block. If not, try restarting your wallet.

If the order contains the data of the transaction we sent, the wallet is synchronized, but the transaction is not visible in the wallet, contact technical support to request a private viewing key to decrypt the transaction and confirm the sending of funds.

When can I use the resulting Monero?

As mentioned above, in the Monero network updates dated November 30 at the protocol level, funds are blocked until 10 network confirmations are received. That is, until the transaction receives 10 confirmations, it will not be possible to use the funds received. On average, a transaction receives 10 confirmations within 20 minutes.

Transaction processing speed

The average block release time is about two minutes. But sometimes delays do occur, and the block exit time can take 10-20 minutes.