Lightning Network Crosses 10,000 Channels And Total Capacity Of About 100 Bitcoins

The Lightning Network seems to be expanding into newer terrain in terms of its overall accessibility. Today, they reached a major milestone. the CTO of Satoshi labs Pavol Rusnak stating that it had reached 10,000 channels with a total channel value of 100 bitcoins.

The lightning network arose out of a need to solve Bitcoin’s high fees and slow transaction speeds as more and more people began conducting transactions on the network. Bitcoin developers preferred other solutions such as Segregated Witness and the Lightning Network. Indeed, Segregated Witness (SegWit) reduced the size of each Bitcoin transaction, helping the network include more transactions and pay fewer fees.

The core idea behind how the lightning network works is that is possible to create small “bidirectional payment channels” that act as a running tab between two separate accounts. The smart contracts determine how much is owed to who, but none of this is stored directly on the Bitcoin blockchain until a payment is rendered. Basically, it is a running tab system that allows for microtransactions. Allocations are made between parties off-blockchain, with all the confidence of performing commerce on-blockchain.

Currently, there was a total of 10,105 channels open, with a channel value of 102.5 Bitcoins. This is a major leap forward for the scaling potential of the lightning network and could trigger further bullish sentiment on blockchain services making use of it in the future.

In the future, the network is expected to keep growing, having more active nodes and be able to support an increased number of BTCs. The Lightning Network is also trying to implement some strengthened privacy and protect users. Olaoluwa Osuntokun, a prominent Lightning Network developer said:

“Nodes shouldn’t be able to arbitrary censor certain payments, or blacklist certain destinations within the channel graph. Similar to Tor, there exist known possibilities of timing leaks, and also unknown active attacks that may be viable.”

In other news about Lightning Network, Bitrefill, which is a service integrated with the lightning network that allows customers to top up their phone plans with cryptocurrency, announced that it will start selling gift card vouchers to Amazon and other brands.

Even though critics have been pointing out the flaws in their scaling solution, developers seem to be working hard at finding solutions.

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