Lightning Labs, developer of the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network (LN) has released a beta version of the Lightning Network Daemon (lnd)—a full implementation of the LN node—with added support for the latest protocol updates, including Taproot and Musig2, among other improvements.
lnd is a software component that handles various aspects within the LN, including managing a database, generating payment invoices, and reversing payments, to name a few. The latest version of the software, dubbed lnd 0.15 beta (v0.15-beta), aims to enable developers to build solutions for more use cases by leveraging the latest capabilities of the Bitcoin network.
Announcing lnd 0.15 beta: To Taproot and Beyond! ♾️
Featuring:
Taproot + Musig2 support for better privacy + efficiency, Taro soon™
~95% database space reduction for new data
️ New pathfinding tool to choose speed vs. cost of paymentsRead more: https://t.co/5pavMcpxBg
— Lightning Labs⚡️ (@lightning) June 28, 2022
lnd 0.15 Beta Announcement: To Taproot and Beyond! ♾️
Presenting:
Taproot + Musig2 compatibility for greater privacy and efficiency, Taro Soon™
~95% reduction in database space for new data
️New guidance tool to choose speed vs. cost of payments
In the announcement, Lightning Labs Product Growth Lead Michael Levin revealed that more than 50 contributors participated in the company’s first product launch in 2022, adding that:
“This release brings full Taproot support for the internal lnd wallet, making it one of the most advanced Taproot wallets out there today. Additionally, this release supports an experimental Musig2 API that is compatible with the latest BIP draft.”
The main goal of MuSig2, a multi-signature scheme, is to allow the creation of aggregated public keys that can be used in Taproot outputs, thus introducing the ability to authorize transactions with Schnorr signatures.
Unlike previous versions, the beta version also removes redundant data from the revocation log bucket, which showed a 95% reduction in database size during initial testing. Although the update doesn’t reclaim space for existing states, Levin anticipates that a later version may include a migration feature that could reclaim old disk space.
Staying true to its commitment to making the LN more reliable, robust, and secure, Lightning Labs introduced greater control over route identification preferences, which ultimately helps reduce transaction fees by identifying the route of lower cost.
The Bitcoin network registered the lowest energy demand of the year 2022 on June 25, with 10.65 gigawatts (GW). As a result, the computing power for mining BTC blocks dropped to 199,225 exahash per second (EH/s).
The sudden reduction in the energy demand of Bitcoin is directly related to the drop in the hash rate. Mining hash rate corresponds to the computing power required by BTC miners to successfully mine a block, a key security metric.
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