On August 24, 2017, an expansion of the Bitcoin network to enable the accommodation of the vastly increased customer base and transaction volumes was carried out. This Segregated Witness (also known as SegWit) implementation was a soft fork change in the transaction processes of Bitcoin.
SegWit was implemented in order to make Bitcoin transactions less malleable and more adaptable to enhancement in the size of the blockchain to increase transaction speeds. It had become clear that a new technology was needed for Bitcoin: one that could provide an extra layer to the existing blockchain to make transactions cheaper and quicker, without altering the basic structure or existing security backing of the network.
SegWit was thus produced to make the development of such technology possible.
The technology that was proposed to address these issues with Bitcoin was the Lightning Network.
Continue reading Lightning Network: The Guide That Tells Everything You Need to Know