According to a recent report released by a researcher — JP Thor, when compared to popular centralised digital payment solutions like Apple Pay, payment using the Lightning Network is only a few seconds slower. However, when it comes to onboarding merchants, the network is “days faster” than most leading (centralised) digital payment solutions.
Anothony Pomplian Challenge
The comparison was as a result of a challenge instigated by Anothony Pomplian, a popular crypto investor and influencer.
Pomplian made the challenge public via a tweet which reads:
“The Lightning Network is so fast.
I wouldn’t be surprised if transactions go from wallet to wallet faster than the time it takes for a credit card machine to process the chip on a card that gets inserted. Someone should run a test to time it and record the whole thing on video.”
In response to this, a researcher—JP Thor, ran a test which leads to the Lightning Network getting compared to the following centralised digital payment solutions:
*.Mastercard Debit Card with Apple Pay (using Australian UpBanking that provides an Apply Pay option to set up a mobile account)
*.Wallet of Satoshi (A no-frills custodial Lightning wallet with fiat on-rail, set up through a mobile)
*.BlueWallet (While there are both sovereign and custodial solutions, sovereign wallets are not ready for mobile use yet).
According to Thor:
“Sending a payment across the LN will always be faster than Visa. LN payments can be processed as fast as a TCP/IP connection between two peers. A single channel has been shown to process over 250 TPS, so the network can scale to no real upper bound.”
Summary of the Lightning Network Test
Just paying: Apple Pay is a couple of seconds faster than WoS. Should improve with better Wallet UX (NFC + Widget).
Full transaction: Apple Pay + Eftpos is a few seconds faster including Merchant set up time. Should improve with more PoS options on the market.
User Onboard: Almost comparable. UX can improve on the WoS side. Merchant Onboard: Days faster for Bitcoin. Getting an Eftpos terminal will always be slower.
