Bitcoin doesn’t scale.

That shouldn’t be read to mean that Bitcoin, the asset, or different ways to use it don’t scale. But Bitcoin’s blockchain does not scale. This is a fundamental and undeniable reality of its architecture. We’ve known this definitively since the Blocksize Wars (well, Bitcoiners have known this). Some people, such as James A. Donald — an anonymous cryptographer who was the first person to reply to Satoshi on the cryptography mailing list — and Hal Finney himself, knew this from the very beginning.

It is not possible for every person on Earth to have to receive, verify and retransmit the transactions of every other person on the planet. The notion that this is a viable idea is actually quite insane.

But this is fundamentally how Bitcoin works. Its security and integrity is only guaranteed through the process of every user receiving and verifying the activity that is processed on the blockchain. So how do we reconcile these two contradictory things?

We find inventive ways to commit to transactions without using the blockchain, essentially “caching” them until an appropriate time to actually engage in final settlement on-chain.

The Lightning Network is the first and most mature example of a system designed to accomplish this reconciliation in a decentralized fashion.

Lightning has not exactly evolved as we hoped it would — a pure end-user payments network — but it has undeniably demonstrated itself as the first viable second-layer scaling solution for Bitcoin. It might wind up becoming more of an aggregate settlement layer, or a network more suitable for businesses and services than end users (though not impossible for them to use), but it is so far a resounding success.

It has been an absolute pleasure and honor to act as the Editor-in-Chief for this issue, as this topic is something very close to me personally. Bitcoin is something that must scale in order to create the positive and impactful change that I want to see it create.

I’d like to thank all the contributors and team members who have made this issue happen, and, most importantly, Aaron van Wirdum’s stewardship and help during the process of passing the torch to me.

I hope you all enjoy gaining a better understanding of one of the most important projects in this space since Bitcoin itself was launched.

Shinobi

Don’t miss your chance to own The Lightning Issue — featuring an exclusive interview with Lightning co-creator Tadge Dryja. It dives deep into Bitcoin’s most powerful scaling layer. Limited run. Only available while supplies last.

This piece is the Letter from the Editor featured in the latest Print edition of Bitcoin Magazine, The Lightning Issue. We’re sharing it here as an early look at the ideas explored throughout the full issue.