Meanwhile ... 21 releases better code using the new CLTV opcode to setup a micro-payments channel to dramatically increase capacity with no need for a blocksize limit increase, and no added network tradoffs. Works with any device and free to use.
https://medium.com/@21/true-micropayments-with-bitcoin-e64fec23ffd8#.t2iij7v71This will not be as inexpensive and powerful as the lightning network but is a great solution to resolve current capacity "problems" immediately.
"Peer to peer electronic payments without the need for a trusted 3rd party"
Bitcoin micropayments: as easy as opening a bar tab
How does this technology work? A good analogy is the idea of a bar tab. When you go to a bar, you typically put down a credit card to open a tab, enjoy your food and drinks, and then close out the tab at the end of the night.
Bar tab? You trust the barman not to skim your CC?
You trust the customer to not do a runner?(0-conf,anyone?\)
Do you really think this is better? Is this "moving forward"?
The "barman" is merely a payment channel script(not a human) that uses the bitcoin blockchain for an Extremely fine-grained realtime billing.
Reduces the need for trust. Neither the merchant nor the customer needs much trust in the other person or any third-party, as the same cryptography used to secure regular Bitcoin transactions is used to secure the micropayment channel. Losses in low-trust situations are bounded and quantifiable; the worst a merchant server can do to a client using micropayment channels is to abscond with an initial transaction of 3000 satoshis without delivering a digital good. If compared to the much larger losses that can be incurred by trusting an insecure merchant server with credit card details, this is a step forward. Put another way: while pre-existing trust reduces transaction costs, establishing trust costs time — which is itself a form of transaction cost.
The consumer places the initial deposit in which the merchant can delay delivering a good/service or use other 0 Conf algo's to detect fraud in conjunction with the payment channel if a delay is not in their interest. Thus the risk is 1 US penny for the consumer. Yes, this is moving forward and very useful.
The lightning network will be superior , but this is much better than what existing payment processors are using.
Not that it matters ... but since you are such a Satoshi Fanboi here is another fact for you-
The tech has a long history in Bitcoin — it was actually originally imagined by Satoshi Nakamoto when he designed two features called nSequence and Locktime, and a variant of it was later implemented by Matt Corallo and several other developers in BitcoinJ.
