Lightning Network: Can it be the next level of business form?

[AB de Royse777]

Lately I am reading few articles about Lightning Network. We know that for scalability, for cheaper transaction Lightning Network is a good solution. If I am not wrong then it is live in the Bitcoin mainnet. What I understand is that installing the Lightning Network is extremely hard however I am considering to install and test one to see how it goes.

So far I learned that the return of investment is huge for this. According to an article they made about $125 in a week on an investment of $2000 which was spreaded over 200 channels. It is around 5% a week which is not bad. They paid around $60 in transaction fees to setup all the nodes so they got it back in 3 to 4 days and after that all were profit. By the way that did not include the set up cost for nodes and the server cost. They had the Lightning Network with over 200 open channels. So far it sound very good to me.

I am still working on gathering the informations. Perhaps I will find some free time and start working in it.

I welcome any suggestion. Enjoy your time.

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[AB de Royse777]

Here are some resources I am considering
https://www.marc.cn/2018/06/the-lightning-network-a-huge-opportunity-to-learn-and-earn-money.html
https://medium.com/coinmonks/the-lightning-network-how-to-install-and-hopefully-make-money-6e3058e3fa7c

And this is something inspirational

I just paid for something online with #Bitcoin over #LightningNetwork and it took 0.1 seconds to  process with a processing fee of $0.0035. That's faster and cheaper than #Visa. Much cheaper. What a time to be alive.

It's a twitter feed. Here is the link: https://twitter.com/satoshiswife/status/1087836871437119489

[ABCbits]

Lately I am reading few articles about Lightning Network. We know that for scalability, for cheaper transaction Lightning Network is a good solution. If I am not wrong then it is live in the Bitcoin mainnet.

Technically it's not on Bitcoin mainnet (except when you open/close channel), but you can use LN on Bitcoin mainnet today.

What I understand is that installing the Lightning Network is extremely hard however I am considering to install and test one to see how it goes.

There are plenty information/guide about LN, so i'm sure it's not extremely hard. You might want to check this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4940536.msg44524521#msg44524521

So far I learned that the return of investment is huge for this. According to an article they made about $125 in a week on an investment of $2000 which was spreaded over 200 channels. It is around 5% a week which is not bad. They paid around $60 in transaction fees to setup all the nodes so they got it back in 3 to 4 days and after that all were profit. By the way that did not include the set up cost for nodes and the server cost. They had the Lightning Network with over 200 open channels. So far it sound very good to me.

Sounds bullshit to me, routing transaction fees on most LN nodes are very low (usually below 1 cents)

Making your nodes have hundred of channel isn't easy unless you're merchant, have big coin capacity or you're the one who connect to other nodes (which mean you spend transaction fees). Additionally, if you set fees for transaction routing high, LN client could route through another nodes which offer lower fees.

[elda34b]

So, it looks like running an e-commerce shop and accepting payments through LN looks more profitable than opening hundreds of LN. A lot of e-commerce already start to use LN too, according to some reports[1].
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2018/09/05/bitcoin-adoption-is-getting-a-massive-lightning-network-boost/#150b7844420c

[jseverson]

Sounds bullshit to me, routing transaction fees on most LN nodes are very low (usually below 1 cents)

Making your nodes have hundred of channel isn't easy unless you're merchant, have big coin capacity or you're the one who connect to other nodes (which mean you spend transaction fees). Additionally, if you set fees for transaction routing high, LN client could route through another nodes which offer lower fees.

This is true. The way the system is set up is a race to the bottom for fees by going for quantity over quality. I wouldn't be looking at running a Lightning Network node to make money, especially not at this point where it hasn't really reached the mainstream crypto population yet.

So, it looks like running an e-commerce shop and accepting payments through LN looks more profitable than opening hundreds of LN. A lot of e-commerce already start to use LN too, according to some reports[1].
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2018/09/05/bitcoin-adoption-is-getting-a-massive-lightning-network-boost/#150b7844420c

It's very much still in its infancy. It looks like they've only processed a hundred or so transactions as of the time of writing:

In an email, CoinGate said: "We have processed more than 100 payments, with no single error. In the beginning, we announced that we will reimburse losses if they occur because of a network error, but it actually never happened."

It's also not as straighforward as setting up a server and keeping it running lol

[Kakmakr]

How many tx's will have to be routed through those channels at 1 cent/tx to make a profit of $125 in a week. < +/- 12500 tx >   It sounds achievable, but also very unrealistic if you consider that that the Lightning Network tx volume are still very low.  

The only way to know if this is achievable, would be to implement this and to see if this is possible or not. The success of this will obviously be linked to your geographical location and the shortest route it can take in an area where there is a high concentration of LN users & merchants.  

[AB de Royse777]

The only way to know if this is achievable, would be to implement this and to see if this is possible or not. The success of this will obviously be linked to your geographical location and the shortest route it can take in an area where there is a high concentration of LN users & merchants.  

This is the route I am thinking to take. I would not know much unless I test it.

There are plenty information/guide about LN, so i'm sure it's not extremely hard. You might want to check this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4940536.msg44524521#msg44524521

Thanks for the link bud. I was looking for such things. Thanks also for the insight thoughts you proved.

[Haunebu]

If the sole reason for doing this is earning hefty profits every week($125 like you mentioned), I would forget it and save my money. You could recover your initial investment, but it might take a long period of time and you would need to process many transactions to recover it.

Basically, this is not a great way of earning money(Not at the moment at least). Mining is still a better option for earning money in comparison. You could also check out the new mobile by HTC which seems to be capable of running a full node and could reduce your initial investment.

[Alpinat]

I can say that it is no. Lightning network is good when you are having big transactions and you are not accepting that fee's in bitcoin is expensive to pay. So you'd better use the lightning network for those big transactions. If you really understand what is lightning network then you are not going to think about doing business on it.

[pushups44]

It is my understanding that running a Lightning node and setting up channels is not generally a good way to make profits. Right now it is mainly hobbyists and some companies running these nodes and channels. Thus far it requires tech savviness, but Casa and other companies are providing hardware nodes that are easy to set up, though costly (around $300 I believe). Over time I expect setting up nodes and channels will get much easier.

[Genemind]

Lightning Network is in the mainstream nowadays because it is gaining praises from different users due to it's a faster and cheaper transaction fee.
Its number of users is increasing as well which is an indication that it offers a good service.
I guess it's not far from the possibility of business adoptions in the future.

[Ailmand]

That strategy could work but it's not profitable as I think. I even find it risky. Honestly, I believe that Lightning network could go more than its current function but I don't see it as a way of transacting using smaller payments. It could only work for larger transactions. The services that it offers has really an edge and I'm sure that it would develop even more.

[Nadziratel]

The lighting network is far from being the next level of anything. For this to happen, first of all Bitcoin must pass through a number of stages. Other networks don't matter much. Bitcoin is very important in this area as in every field.