Transforming Payments: The Promise of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network

The history of money is riddled with crises, followed by innovation that transforms the monetary system. In 17th century England, a coinage crisis triggered a loss in trust in the money’s value. To restore that trust, Goldsmiths stepped in as intermediaries—and became England’s unlikely first bankers. Today, transferring money requires a plethora of intermediaries to verify transactions in a system that’s full of friction. Enter the next innovation: Bitcoin. Can it remove friction from the system and build trust?