From 5f876a4c595aa127240bf365eed1cf3009ed3d0d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: 8go Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 17:07:46 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] minor improvements to chapter "Comparison with Bitcoin" part 2 - more details - etc --- ch03.asciidoc | 16 ++++++++++------ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/ch03.asciidoc b/ch03.asciidoc index 7c14abf..2f8485f 100644 --- a/ch03.asciidoc +++ b/ch03.asciidoc @@ -512,17 +512,21 @@ Instead, they are paying fees to the users routing their payments, and different Naturally, routers who are charging lower fees for the same capacity will be more attractive to route through. Thus a fee market exists where routers are in competition with each other over the fees they charge to route payments through their channels. -==== Public Transactions on the Blockchain vs Secret payments +==== Public Transactions on the Blockchain vs Secret Payments -On the Bitcoin network, every payment is publicly visible on the ledger. +On the Bitcoin network, every payment is publicly visible on the ledger, i.e. the blockchain. While the addresses involved are pseudonymous and are not typically tied to identity, they will still be collected and validated by every other user on the network. +Professional companies collect and analyse this data en-masse and sell it to interested parties such as exchanges or governments. Lightning Network payments, on the other hand, are completely private. -Typically only the sender and the receiver will be fully aware of the source, destination, and amount of bitcoin transacted in a particular transaction. +Typically only the sender and the receiver will be fully aware of the source, destination, and amount of bitcoin transacted in a particular payment. However, it is not required for the receiver to even know the source of the payment. -As payments are onion-routed, the users who route the payment will only be aware of the amount of the payment, but not the source or the destination. -This is because the security model of Lightning only requires users to be aware of the balances in their channels. -They are not required to be aware of the state of the entire network. +As payments are onion-routed, the users who route the payment will only be aware of the amount of the payment, but neither the source nor the destination. +This is because the security model of Lightning only requires users to control the balances in their channels. +They are not required to be aware of the state of the entire network. + +In summary, Bitcoin transactions are broadcasted publicly and stored forever. Lightning payments are executed between a few selected peers and information about is privately stored and only until the channel is closed. +Creating en-masse analysis tools equivalent to the ones on the Bitcoin network will be impossible on Lightning. ==== Waiting for Confirmations vs Instant settlement