Lightning network in real world Newbie in this area. Trying to understand how lightning network would work in real world.
If I want to buy a coffee on BTC network, I go and pay and unfortunately me and the cashier need to wait 5-10 min before the transaction is &quot;confirmed&quot; on chain. This the cashier wouldn't know for sure if my money is good for that amount of time.
With lightning network, my understanding is that we would be making a transaction on a &quot;side chain&quot; (so the money would be transferred &quot;instantly&quot;).
My question is that instantly - Does the lightning network also solve the problem of giving confidence to the cashier that I have the money required? I.e. does the cashier have to wait for the side chain to get &quot;settled&quot; onto the main chain and thus wait 5-10 minutes for a confirmation?
With lightning network, my understanding is that we would be making a transaction on a &quot;side chain&quot;

The lightning network is not a ‘side chain’, that term is usually used to describe an entirely different piece of technology that can be built to work on top of/alongside bitcoin.

Does the lightning network also solve the problem of giving confidence to the cashier that I have the money required?

Yes, lightning payments can settle pretty much instantly, both the customer and cashier would see proof of this in their respective lightning wallet applications. There is no need to wait for an on-chain transaction to be confirmed.