Although crypto transactions have a reputation for being expensive and unwieldy, different solutions have emerged in recent years to facilitate the technology as an actual payment service. A leading example is the Lightning Network, a decentralized layer-2 protocol built on top of Bitcoin that promises fast and cheap transactions.
Still, as developers seek to convince enterprise clients that Lightning can serve as an alternative to traditional payment rails such as Visa and Mastercard, they must first guarantee that payment processing is reliable, meaning that every transaction is settled.
