Current Status of Lightning Network Development

Original Title: "The Development Status of Lightning Network"

Original Source: Block Quote

Bitcoin's leading scaling solution, the Lightning Network, has seen significant growth and adoption since its beta launch in March 2018. The Lightning Network is developing steadily, especially when it comes to:

-Fluidity and flexibility of the network

-Protocol development and capacity expansion

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-User Experience

-Lightning Focused Startup

-Consumer and Merchant Adoption

The Relay of the Lightning Flame

An earlier event that received a lot of attention was the transfer of the "Lightning Flame". This is a Lightning Network payment campaign initiated by Bitcoin users using Twitter in the first quarter of 2019. Initiated by Twitter user Hodlonaut, the Lightning Torch went viral, raising awareness and interest in the protocol. Celebrities and influencers, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, have joined in on the pass-through.

 Lightning Flame is a very interesting experiment, trying to prove that the Lightning Network can surpass the most common payment systems today, such systems are different from Mastercard and Paypal , relying on peer-to-peer trust, and does not need to rely on a third party.

Lightning Network Wallets

Consumer adoption of Bitcoin payments is largely Depends on a simple, intuitive mobile wallet user experience. 2018 and 2019 were banner years for Lightning Network wallets, including Satoshi Wallet, Breez, Blue Wallet, and Eclair.

In particular, Breez was the first non-custodial wallet to introduce a Neutrino-based client, combined with a light client to access a scaled-down version of Bitcoin blocks chain while minimizing the amount of CPU and data required to send and receive payments via mobile devices.

Bitcoin’s entrance to Lightning Network

On-chain Bitcoin address and off-chain Lightning Transactions between network addresses are not directly compatible. Launched in late 2018, Submarine Swaps removes the traditionally complex barrier to Bitcoin’s entry into the Lightning Network by using a trustless intermediary to transfer tokens between blockchains. This allows the off-chain Lightning Network channel to directly complete the on-chain transfer of the Bitcoin blockchain.

The entrance of fiat currency to Lightning Network

At the end of 2019, from Zap, Sparkswap and Escher etc. Developers who focus on the Lightning Network have optimized the design of the entrance from fiat currency to the Lightning Network, making it easier to use. For example, through Zap's Olympus, users can buy Bitcoin with fiat currency, sending and receiving payments made with the Lightning Network quickly and easily.

Bitcoin exchange using the Lightning Network

Bitfinex is the first Major Bitcoin exchange adding support for the Lightning Network. Now, several other Bitcoin exchanges also use the Lightning Network protocol. HodlHodl, Buda and River Financial. By adding support for the Lightning Network on its platform, the exchange offers its users the benefit of instant deposits/withdrawals and ultra-low fees.

Growth in the number of public channels

The Lightning Network supports two types of channels: public and private.

The private channel does not broadcast to the lightning network, only the two participating nodes know and use it. The entire node may not be known to the network. In fact, all current mobile wallet channels are private channels. The benefits of private channels are end-user privacy and more efficient transaction routing.

The growth of public channels can be tracked as their activity is known to the network. According to Bitmex Research, it is estimated that the proportion of public channels in the network is 72% and private channels are 28%. The number of payment channels is rising as more nodes join the network. Since January 2019, the number of public channels has risen from 21,000 to 38,500, and the number of BTC in those channels has risen from 540 to 1,126 BTC.

Liquidity

The two improvements to the Lightning Network complement each other, adding Practicality, and improved transaction payment experience.

Multi-path Bitcoin payment

Multi-path payment can decompose a single payment into more For small parts, multiple channels can be used for settlement. The probability of successfully sending larger Bitcoin payments is greatly increased, as the maximum transfer size is no longer limited to the size of a particular channel. Additionally, multi-path payments further decentralize the Lightning Network and make it more censorship resistant.

Use Wumbo for large-volume and large-amount payments

Due to the limitation of the channel size, Lightning node operators have historically been limited in the amount of bitcoin they can store on Lightning channels. Wumbo allows for exclusion of these channel size limitations.

Support for Wumbo channels allows users to deposit and withdraw larger amounts of funds and send larger transactions to Lightning Network channels. As the commercial leader of Lightning Network Bitcoin payments, OpenNode fully supports Wumbo and has set a limit of 5 Bitcoin Lightning Network transactions on the platform.

Next Step

Continue Improvements

While the Lightning Network is fully operational today, there are still some limitations to allowing the Lightning Network to scale across the Bitcoin ecosystem And puzzles need to be solved. Teams such as Lightning Labs, ACINQ, and Blockstream are actively building the infrastructure of the Lightning Network and continuing to advance the development of the network, but for payment technology, perfection cannot be rushed.

New applications and use cases

As the Lightning Network continues to grow, expect to see new businesses and applications accept Bitcoin Lightning for payments. The Lightning Network provides the perfect means of payment with instant low-cost transactions, so it’s only a matter of time before more businesses start using it. Bitcoin transactions on the Lightning Network will be the future of microtransactions on the Internet.

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