So two days ago the [first ever physical transaction](https://cointelegraph.com/news/lightning-networks-pizza-day-first-ever-physical-purchase-on-lightning-network) on the Lightning Network took place. Pretty cool. It was **practically instant and free of fees**! That's something else than those $10-$20 fees per transaction we currently pay on the Bitcoin network :-)

The **Lightning Network** is an off-chain scaling solution for Bitcoin and other derived cryptocurrencies. If we want Bitcoin to become mainstream and make it possible to buy your daily cup of coffee with it, it needs to be very fast and very cheap to do so. Hopefully 2018 is the year in which we see serious progress on this!

It works with so-called off-chain **payment channels** and I like to think of those as opening a tab at a bar. After the last beer you pay the bartender and it's done. It avoids all the separate transactions for every round. Much easier and less effort.

Anyways, I found a video that explains the Lightning Network even simpler and in understandable terms. Enjoy!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrr_zPmEiME
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Personally, I always like to watch multiple explanations to really understand it and avoid having information just from one source. I would recommend you therefore also to watch the video by Ivan on Tech about the Lightning Network (and skip the first 1.5 minutes, since those are not relevant ;-))

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QALYFEUxiAw
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Cheers!

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*Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, trader or developer. I am just a blockchain & cryptocurrencies enthusiast. Make sure you do your own research, draw your own conclusions and do not invest any money that you cannot afford to lose.*