Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
January 09, 2019 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- From its’
inception last year, until now, the Lightning network has been
consistently touted as the savior of Bitcoin and other slower
crypto networks, in terms of scaling. As with just about every
other blockchain service, the major issue that it has been
experiencing is how to scale its’ own user numbers to the point
where its’ solution seems viable.
According to an article today from
Coindesk, the reason for this is the steep learning curve that each
new user has to go through in setting up a Lightning Network
payment channel. In the same article, CoinDesk claims that
Bitrefill, which specializes in connecting Bitcoin with everyday
payments, already has the solution to this issue via their service
called Thor.
Overall, Thor is appears to be an
on-demand service for users to open Lightning Network payment
channels by connecting to Bitrefill’s existing Lightning Network
node. Why this appears to be special is because in doing so, little
to no specialized technical knowledge is required on the part of
the user. Bitrefill has boiled the process down to four simple
steps, which they detail on their landing page for the Thor
service.
All in all, any interested user
need only open a Bitcoin Lightning Wallet from the Google Play
store, then create your wallet passphrase, click open a new channel
on the top right corner of the app, and go to the Thor channel
opening service page, from which you pay and scan a unique QR code
to get access to your new channel.
In considering this new service,
keep in mind that at least for now, Bitrefill is limiting payment
channels to a thirty-day window, before they close them. Their
reasoning for this is simple. Allowing users to open channels via
Thor means that Bitrefill has to lock a certain amount of their
Bitcoin in that user’s channel to keep it open. This also means
that in truth, Bitrefill is opening these channels for themselves
and allowing users to use them for a fee.
Therefore, in the end, while Thor
is an exciting development, it is still quite far being the answer
to easing the Lightning Network’s barriers to entry.
By: BGN Editorial Staff