Author: Roy Sheinfeld
Source: https://blog.breez.technology/lightning-is-dead-long-live-lightning-f224292dbcd0
The Lightning Network has been evolving, but most of the changes we've witnessed over the past decade have been internal to the technology itself. The changes that have occurred in the last two years have been about the technology itself. I'm not talking about protocol enhancements or new features, but rather a fundamental new understanding of the nature of the Lightning Network, what it can do, and who uses it and where.
We've discussed some of these changes in isolation before, but perhaps in a somewhat abstract way. That's why we embrace metaphors like " universal language " ( in the Chinese translation ) and "the last mile."
Fortunately, one of our partners, Cake Wallet , has walked this path with us. Their story vividly illustrates the recent transformation of the Lightning Network. So, let me tell you the story of the Lightning Network, Breez, and Cake Wallet.
If we continue to get stuck on this...
In 2024, we were pleased to welcome Cake as an early design partner, using our (later) brand-new SDK (Software Development Kit). Cake implemented the Breez SDK in their wallet implementation to use Greenlight . Although Greenlight's remote node mode offered a better Lightning Network user experience compared to client nodes running on user collections, Cake never released it to production, and we later abandoned it as well.
Compared to earlier implementations of Lightning nodes on mobile devices, Greenlight can be considered a true "quality of life improvement." Running a real Lightning node on a user's phone consumes significant resources and requires constant synchronization with the Bitcoin blockchain and the Lightning Network, which was extremely difficult given the limitations of mobile operating systems at the time. By moving the user's node to the cloud and many active components behind the scenes, Greenlight truly enhances the user experience.
However, even with Greenlight, we still had to make further trade-offs between permissionless, borderless Bitcoin and an intuitive, frictionless user experience. For example, channel liquidity remained a headache for every user. At the time, we believed that Greenlight represented the best balance possible, comparable to its predecessors in terms of custody and openness, but surpassing them in simplicity; however, its user experience was still too complex, and Greenlight proved difficult to scale.
For these reasons, Cask never deployed the Greenlight implementation of the Breez SDK to a production environment, only praising its design , simplicity, and functionality. Greenlight is an advancement within the (Lightning Network) technology, but the Lightning Network needs fundamental changes surrounding this technology.
Cake tried the Greenlight solution, which proved to be good enough for developers but not enough for users. They chose not to compromise and wait for a better product. Frankly, this is exactly the feedback we needed.
A common language for the last mile
As time goes by, so too does technology.
More specifically, a variety of technologies targeting the "last mile" have emerged, improving the Bitcoin user experience and the economics of transferring Bitcoin. These technologies include: next-generation statechains (such as Spark ), sidechains (such as Liquid ), federations suitable for friends and families (such as Fedimint ), eCash networks (such as Cashu ), and advanced programmable layers (such as Arkade ) . They are all variations on the same theme: just as the Lightning Network improved Bitcoin's economics and throughput, these completions of the "last mile" have improved the Lightning Network's payment channels, economics, complexity, and scalability.
The Lightning Network remains an indispensable part of our methods for transferring value, but it has become a universal language and payment protocol—a protocol connecting these last-mile technologies, rather than a payment channel protocol that users need to understand. Moreover, the Lightning Network's connectivity goes deeper. Even when Bitcoin is transferred from a Spark entity to Arkade, or between a Fedimit Consortium and Liquid, these secondary networks communicate fluently in the language of the Lightning Network.
If you understand the Lightning Network's economic model and value user experience, then the Lightning Network's transformation will seem inevitable. Poon-Dryja payment channels (the current Lightning channel configuration) are unparalleled when there is a continuous flow of high-speed transactions, especially when these transactions are bidirectional. Even if inherent problems stemming from mobile devices (such as network synchronization and offline payments) are resolved, nodes at the network edge will still struggle to perform due to lower transaction speeds. Liquidity management and the economic model are features for routing nodes, but bugs for end-user nodes. Fortunately, these last-mile technologies have solved these problems and user experience complexities, and the Lightning Network, as a universal language, connects them, making Bitcoin more accessible to both developers and users.
Cake Returns
The introduction to the evolution of the Lightning Network was fantastic, and I almost forgot to tell you some big news: Cake Wallet is now bringing the Breez SDK to production! Yay!
Cake has been researching the user experience dilemmas of Bitcoin and exploring various last-mile solutions . The Spark implementation in the Breez SDK strikes a balance between a trust-minimized solution and a compatible user experience for Cake. It combines Bitcoin's openness, usefulness, and finality with features not yet available on the Lightning Network, such as offline payments.
As for the user experience, what used to be our weakness has now become our strength. Payments are instant. Offline payments and Lightning Network addresses are built-in. Transaction fees are negligible. Like any fintech app, a lot of unrelated complexity is hidden behind the scenes, because users only need to see their funds go where they want them to go, according to their defined time and method. This is what Bitcoin is like as a form of electronic currency. Users just need to grab their cake and enjoy it! (Sorry, I really couldn't resist.)
Of course, we haven't neglected the developer experience either; it's better than ever before. The Breez SDK's API (Application Programming Interface) is designed by developers for developers, aiming to be as simple as possible, with clear and extensible commands, and fast and helpful support. As a user-friendly product, Cake serves its own end users; and as a developer-friendly product, we serve the Cake product team.
Hard work will eventually pay off.
Breez was almost the first team to see the potential of the Lightning Network and released an easy-to-use mobile app, but our users forced us to build a better experience. We worked with the Blockstream team (who designed Greenlight) to try and optimize it for users and developers. We're still proud, and have reason to be, because our older Greenlight SDK was also a significant improvement. But partners like Cake weren't satisfied (even though they'd given Greenlight many opportunities). So they also pushed us to develop something better.
We did it. By "we," I mean the entire Lightning Network community. Breez is still working with Blockstream to develop the Liquid implementation of our SDK; we're also working with Lightspark to develop the Spark implementation and leverage it to deliver a best-in-class Lightning Network user experience.
This is the way we want to work. We do our best to develop results using existing technologies, then bring them to market, raising the bar while identifying areas for improvement. Loyal partners like Cake inform them and their users of the needs. Then, we meet with allies who share the same goal to collaborate on the next miracle, the next optimal solution.
The story of Breez, the Lightning Network, and Cake teaches us at least two lessons. First, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Second, while it's impossible to predict what the next innovation on the Lightning Network will be or how it will work, trends don't lie: the Lightning Network is constantly improving. Compared to when we first started, the Lightning Network has become far more user-friendly and helps far more people.
Don't you like happy endings?
(over)
