When do we expect Lightning Network to come out?

[HeRetiK]

[...]

LN developers were recently quoted as saying they are "not going to rush anything" since there will be so much money on the line once LN launches. they are very concerned about funds being lost due to corner cases they haven't discovered yet.

[...]

That's good to hear. While I want LN to be deployed yesterday, a rushed release is the last thing we need, even if it means that BTC loses some of its market cap along the way.

Everyone who fears alts overtaking BTC due to a belated LN release is missing the big picture. Everyone who expects alts overtaking BTC due to LN failing, does so regardless of a release date.

Probably in 2 years if the core get their shit together

LN is worked on by 3 different dev teams, none of which is core (albeit individual devs intersect, obviously)

[Hateculd75]

I want fast cheap transactions

first successful transaction done and money developers work to make it real. it is possible to see Lightning Network during 2018 and max 2019
By 2020 you will find many wallets that have started to support this technology and before the end of the year 2021 you will find many people who either know how to use these wallets or have already used them.
i supported to do very important transaction only this days
time chaning fast

[hessanseen]

The lightning network will not quit too quickly. Although everyone is in urgent need of the lightning network. This requires a lot of testing, and has played a game with the miners. Let's look forward to a team that doesn't use the news for us in 2018.

[lucasarab]

I saw a tweet about someone doing beta testing on the mainnet, the service was provided by bitrefill.
https://twitter.com/alexbosworth/status/946175898029395968

[vv181]

SegWit was released months ago, but few are those using it right now. People need tome to accept new changes.
The Lightning Network will solve all users problems , its implementation will be faster.
The problem is that the majority of users are just byuing Bitcoin and holding and not using in a daily basis, that's why they don't care much about fees and slow transactions.

Agree, many people whining about the transaction fees and the transaction time while they didn't utilize the features that bitcoin have which is Segwit. All people expecting Lightning Network to solve the scalability of Bitcoin.

[ngefek berat]

SegWit was released months ago, but few are those using it right now. People need tome to accept new changes.
The Lightning Network will solve all users problems , its implementation will be faster.
The problem is that the majority of users are just byuing Bitcoin and holding and not using in a daily basis, that's why they don't care much about fees and slow transactions.

It's true of your opinion because everybody often trades when the purchase price and exchange increase from there come a variety of transactions that are too slow because many people are doing activities together to expect a profit.Although in waiting for the price rise takes a relatively long time.

[iamTom123]

It will take a lot of time before Lightning Network will be introduced on the mainnet. Currently, Lightning Network is being tested on the testnet. I did some tests by myself and it works great. However, LN is not secure if you don't understand how it works so if I were you, I would use this time for trying to understand it. Neither hard forks nor soft fork is needed for LN implementation. The biggest flaw is that wallet providers will have to update their wallets in order to make them compatible. I guess it will take half a year starting from today.

Bitcoin right now is very much affected by the scalability problem which became the basis for the ridiculously high transaction fees which many are really complaining about since this is what Bitcoin should be; we did not signed up for this, so to speak. Appropriate and acceptable solution has to be found and implemented before the whole world will go sour on Bitcoin and jump to other more viable cryptocurrency. Within the cryptocurrency market, the competition is quite fierce on who has the right to kick out Bitcoin from its throne that is why Bitcoin devs should work hard and make it fast without sacrificing security but not also using it as an excuse to delay things from happening. I am expecting the Lightning Network once fully implemented can be the answer to the problems of Bitcoin right now. Of course, it may not be perfect but that is much better than the status quo. We should hope that once it can be available, exchanges will implement the said upgrade without hesitation and another round of politicking.

[BitChief]

It will take a lot of time before Lightning Network will be introduced on the mainnet. Currently, Lightning Network is being tested on the testnet. I did some tests by myself and it works great. However, LN is not secure if you don't understand how it works so if I were you, I would use this time for trying to understand it. Neither hard forks nor soft fork is needed for LN implementation. The biggest flaw is that wallet providers will have to update their wallets in order to make them compatible. I guess it will take half a year starting from today.

To be expected I suppose. The tech is pretty cool tho. Can't wait to see it live

[akram143]

It will take a lot of time before Lightning Network will be introduced on the mainnet. Currently, Lightning Network is being tested on the testnet. I did some tests by myself and it works great. However, LN is not secure if you don't understand how it works so if I were you, I would use this time for trying to understand it. Neither hard forks nor soft fork is needed for LN implementation. The biggest flaw is that wallet providers will have to update their wallets in order to make them compatible. I guess it will take half a year starting from today.

Bitcoin right now is very much affected by the scalability problem which became the basis for the ridiculously high transaction fees which many are really complaining about since this is what Bitcoin should be; we did not signed up for this, so to speak. Appropriate and acceptable solution has to be found and implemented before the whole world will go sour on Bitcoin and jump to other more viable cryptocurrency. Within the cryptocurrency market, the competition is quite fierce on who has the right to kick out Bitcoin from its throne that is why Bitcoin devs should work hard and make it fast without sacrificing security but not also using it as an excuse to delay things from happening. I am expecting the Lightning Network once fully implemented can be the answer to the problems of Bitcoin right now. Of course, it may not be perfect but that is much better than the status quo. We should hope that once it can be available, exchanges will implement the said upgrade without hesitation and another round of politicking.

As you said the competition in bitcoin becomes very tough so bitcoin need to be developed soon to stay in the game otherwise some coin will replace bitcoin if the high transaction fee and slower transaction keep persisting long.But lightning network was already tested in testnet and it will be implemented on mainnet with 2018.

[bitart]

It will take a lot of time before Lightning Network will be introduced on the mainnet. Currently, Lightning Network is being tested on the testnet. I did some tests by myself and it works great. However, LN is not secure if you don't understand how it works so if I were you, I would use this time for trying to understand it. Neither hard forks nor soft fork is needed for LN implementation. The biggest flaw is that wallet providers will have to update their wallets in order to make them compatible. I guess it will take half a year starting from today.

Bitcoin right now is very much affected by the scalability problem which became the basis for the ridiculously high transaction fees which many are really complaining about since this is what Bitcoin should be; we did not signed up for this, so to speak. Appropriate and acceptable solution has to be found and implemented before the whole world will go sour on Bitcoin and jump to other more viable cryptocurrency. Within the cryptocurrency market, the competition is quite fierce on who has the right to kick out Bitcoin from its throne that is why Bitcoin devs should work hard and make it fast without sacrificing security but not also using it as an excuse to delay things from happening. I am expecting the Lightning Network once fully implemented can be the answer to the problems of Bitcoin right now. Of course, it may not be perfect but that is much better than the status quo. We should hope that once it can be available, exchanges will implement the said upgrade without hesitation and another round of politicking.

Just wondering what could be the motivation for exchanges to implement LN if they still didn't support  Segwit? I hope I'm wrong but exchanges are struggling with this amount of newcomers and transaction count, what if the segwit and LN go live and they have to deal with much higher traffic. I don't know if they will be able to upgrade their service by the time LN comes, they still have time but there's a really need for upgrade from their side. Just have a look at Kraken, when the price of bitcoin moves a lot they're struggling with the load on their website...

[HeRetiK]

Just wondering what could be the motivation for exchanges to implement LN if they still didn't support  Segwit? I hope I'm wrong but exchanges are struggling with this amount of newcomers and transaction count, what if the segwit and LN go live and they have to deal with much higher traffic. I don't know if they will be able to upgrade their service by the time LN comes, they still have time but there's a really need for upgrade from their side. Just have a look at Kraken, when the price of bitcoin moves a lot they're struggling with the load on their website...

It would be an interesting dynamic if merchants (ie. BitPay) where to implement LN before most major exchanges. Meaning, people would have a higher incentive to use BTC as a means of payment instead of trying to dump it on the next exchange whenever the chance arises.

Also, whatever exchange is first to offer LN will likely have an edge in terms of liquidity, as people would be more likely to deposit with them.

Either way, very valid concerns. I hope LN is easier to integrate than SegWit, albeit I fear that this won't be the case.

[soham]

I want fast cheap transactions

Lightening network is currently under testing phase and I heard that the first transaction was instant with zero fees. It has not yet been implemented officially. However, I think Segwit can save us in the meantime. Few exchanges and wallet service providers have already implemented segwit for faster and cheaper transactions. Do a little google search and you will get the information on how to create and use segwit enabled wallet. ELectrum is already providing segwit address and transaction support. So f you want faster and cheaper transactions, start using segwit enabled wallets.