The largest cryptocurrency in the world has reason to celebrate. The Lightning Network reached the 4,000 Bitcoin (BTC) public capacity milestone, meaning $120 million in value is ready for peer-to-peer payments.
The Lightning Network first broke the 1,000 BTC barrier in August 2020 and the 2,000 BTC barrier in July 2021. Capacity has doubled in the space of 18 months.
CoinCorner CEO Daniel Scott told Cointelegraph that “we had slow and steady growth with the Lightning capability to start with, but since January 2021 the uptick has been strong.”
Danny Brewster, CEO of UK-based Bitcoin exchange Fast Bitcoins, told Cointelegraph that the capacity of the Lightning Network “probably surpassed 4,000 a long time ago with private channel metrics that are not publicly available.”
“That said, the steady growth has been a great start for the Lightning Network and I anticipate it will continue well into the future, as long as all stakeholders, from developers to entrepreneurs building businesses continue to push forward.”
The Lightning Network, a layer 2 payment protocol built on top of the Bitcoin base layer, allows the transaction to be almost instantaneous. In the following video, Paco from India—a Bitcoin-powered world traveler—buys a pair of shorts from Jorge, a Bitcoiner from Mozambique, using the Lightning Network:
Day 261
I got to buy a pair of shorts for #bitcoin from Jorge in Tofo. Paid him sats via #paxful Lighting to his @MuunWallet
Thank you @BitcoinEkasi for orange pilling him. Jorge misses you.
This is #btc adoption in Mozambique
Obrigado,
Paco#runwithbitcoin https://t.co/UqFtKZzfFL pic.twitter.com/JRMUel6twK— Paco from India⚡ (@RunwithBitcoin) June 3, 2022
day 261
I managed to buy some shorts for #Bitcoin from Jorge in Tofo. I paid sats via Lighting on #paxful to his @MuunWallet.
Thanks to @BitcoinEkasi for giving him the orange pill. George misses you.
This is the adoption of #btc in Mozambique
Obrigado,
Paco
Senior Glassnode analyst James Check told Cointelegraph: “Bitcoin’s Lightning Network expansion appears to be moving out of the ‘recklessness’ phase, and into proper experimentation by early adopters.”
“As wallet designs and user experience improve, more issues can be resolved and the network will mature. The continued growth of public Lightning capacity and channel count is a reflection of this growing vote of confidence and ever-increasing utilization.”said.
Scott agreed, sharing that the positive trend will likely continue “as more companies adopt Lightning and we see more use cases pay off.”
“The influence of El Salvador adopting Bitcoin appears to have been a turning point for Lightning, giving it confidence and proving a real-world use case.”
Based on 1ML data, the average and median transaction cost to send Satoshis (the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin) via Lightning is well below $0.01, showing that it is a very powerful payment technology.
Brewster concludes that it’s an “impressive start, but a long way to go. It’s still very early days.”
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.
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