Ethereum’s  Fastest Payment Network
Although Ethereum is not designed to be a payment system that can compete with bitcoin, the Raiden network may change all of that. This new protocol will introduce high-speed asset transfers for the Ethereum network and focuses on the key pillars of growth that hold bitcoin back right now. It takes mere seconds – or even fractions of a second – to confirm transfers over the Raiden Network, which is quite a significant improvement.
More importantly, scalability is one of the primary selling points of the Raiden network. This protocol can handle over 1 million transfers per second without running into any problems. That would be quite a significant breakthrough, as such a high number of transactions can become a serious threat to existing financial payment networks, all of which are more expensive to use. Speaking of which, the Raiden network is designed to facilitate low transaction fees, which could be 7 orders of magnitude lower when compared to blockchain transactions on the current Ethereum network.
Some people may have already guessed how the Raiden Network is not unlike bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Rather than sharing all transactions on the blockchain, Raiden allows users to privately exchange messages to sign the transfer of value. Moreover, this protocol is an extension to Ethereum, complementing the existing ecosystem and making it stronger. All of this is made possible thanks to a network of peer-to-peer payment channels and deposits.