Lightning payments leverage channel states to update balances without touching the blockchain for every transaction. To pay someone not directly connected to your channel, the network finds a multi-hop route. Each hop sets an HTLC ensuring no trust is needed. If the recipient claims the payment, each intermediary gets a small routing fee. This significantly outperforms on-chain transactions for small or frequent transfers. While LN can fail if routes lack sufficient liquidity, successful payments are often near-instant and cost fractions of a cent in fees.