Lightning for Beam and Grin is getting closer every day

Although more efficient and private than Bitcoin, MimbleWimble protocol currencies such as Grin and Beam have the ability to process fewer transactions per second, at least until the last update of Beam cryptocurrency.

In Beam's latest update, Cathode 3.1, the development team introduced Laser Beam, the transaction channel technology essential for creating a second layer, which would allow thousands of transactions per second.

How can Laser Beam be used? Payment channels are nothing new, the creator of Bitcoin himself has been talking about them since the first version of Bitcoin. They are a way to make transactions without using the blockchain, which is expensive and slow.

Suppose you have a coffee every day at Seu João's bakery, when you pay you would have to wait a few minutes for the transaction to be secure on the network, and every time you had a coffee you would have to pay a fee to the network.

To work around these issues, you open a payment channel with Your John and every morning you update your balance.

At the end of the month, you close the payment channel by sending only one transaction to the network. All this with great security and cryptographic mechanisms that protect your John and you.

This idea of payment channels is the foundation of Bitcoin's Lightning Network, a network that is increasingly close to being built for Beam and Grin cryptocurrencies.