Lightning network happens to be the preferred choice of a large number of bitcoin users. However, things don’t seem to be going in the right direction for this network and there are plenty of reasons behind it. One of the biggest issues that bitcoin users have been complaining about is that the lightning network has not been working recently. Sure, its interface may open every now and then but its overall functionality leaves a lot to be desired.
If any of you have been following this network for a long period, you will be well aware of the fact that trading bitcoin without using the lightning network can be a massive pain. While people claim that they would continue to make investments in bitcoin down the line, they are not as optimistic about its future as they used to be initially. As you would expect, the lack of optimism comes from the problems that the lightning network has been facing recently.
More often than not, people do not see the various scaling alternatives that are available these days. This is because they trusted and relied on the network being talked about for a long period, and now that it is not working properly, there is a great deal of confusion. Contrary to popular belief, the lightning network of bitcoin offers a lot more than connecting two parties directly. Instead, users can also chain these single channels with a variety of other channels in order to create an interlinked network for making payments.
Needless to say, the system can be incredibly flexible and allow users to make payments between parties that would not be connected otherwise. With that said, there are plenty of limitations and downsides that people have not been acknowledging regarding the Lightning Network. Sure, some of the technical users have been mentioning the issues, but very few people besides them raised any kind of concern.
If you look at things closely, you will come to realize that the lightning channel, at its core, is only a set of transactions that happen to be pre-signed. People often fail to understand the incentive-based model of this network, but it is relatively simple. Once someone signs a transaction, taking it back is impossible. It will be available out there and remain to be a bitcoin transaction. However, things will be different if you use that bitcoin from a different transaction.
Another reason why the lightning network has not been working properly is that it has issues with its hashed timelock contracts. Once issues like these are resolved, you can expect the network to come back to its original, high-level functionality.