The company Blockchain, which is most known for its bitcoin wallet, has another project up its sleeves that it’s developing in order to make faster bitcoin payments.
What the company is developing, according to a TechCrunch report, is a network called Thunder that enables users to make off-chain bitcoin payments within just seconds. Those transactions can then be settled on bitcoin’s blockchain faster. While this development is still in testing mode, this could be a breakthrough in terms of how bitcoin transactions are viewed.
The reason this would be viewed as such an innovation is because, at the moment, sending bitcoins from one bitcoin wallet to another actually ends up taking 10 to 20 minutes before the transaction occurs. Taking the friction (wait) out of those transfers could be one of the keys in helping bitcoin payments and money transfers become more mainstream.
For now, transferring bitcoins across blockchain is slower because it has to move across the network of servers. The nodes in the blockchain take time to confirm that the wallet it is coming from actually has the funds and even more time to make sure those bitcoins get to where they are supposed to be going.
And with all the talks about faster payments, it’s no wonder that bitcoin companies want a piece of the market. That’s why Blockchain has been so focused on building what’s known as a Lightning network. In terms of its full impact, that’s still being tested.
For now, at least according to TechCrunch’s report, Blockchain hasn’t used its new network, Thunder, for its bitcoin wallet users. But it is determining where the solutions could be applicable.
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