Feb 23, 2023
Lightning Network Capacity Hits All-Time High of 5,000 Bitcoin
The Lightning Network (LN), a neutral protocol built on top of Bitcoin, recently achieved an all-time high of 5,000 Bitcoin (BTC). This is a major milestone for the network, which is slowly gaining traction in emerging markets such as South America and Africa.
The Lightning Network is different from many decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as it does not have a “native” token attached to it. Despite this, its total liquidity is still growing steadily, while the amount of Ether (ETH) locked in smart contracts is trending downwards.
The number of channels on the peer-to-peer network dropped drastically in November due to the FTX collapse, but it has since rebounded. This could be due to the end of miner capitulation and the rise of Bitcoin-based applications such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
In December 2022, the firm Strike launched an LN-based remittance service in Africa, offering no-cost transfers from the United States to Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Later, Strike announced a similar program in the Philippines. The firm has also recently announced dollar payments using LN, where users can potentially send dollars from the Strike’s cash balance to savings and Visa-enabled accounts.
Marty Bent’s report found that the LN payments have risen this year on one of the top Lightning Network wallets, Wallet of Satoshi. Moreover, Podcasting 2.0 — a podcasting platform that accepts LN payments — also recorded an uptick in tips sent to creators.
Another factor influencing the adoption of LN is the launch of Nostr. According to the protocol’s GitHub page, Nostr is a simple, open protocol that enables global, decentralized, censorship-resistant social media. The protocol allows social media applications to be built on it, and one such application is Damus, a Twitter competitor.
Damus has integrated various LN wallets like Wallet of Satoshi, Strike, BlueWallet and others. According to a report from LN analyst Kevin Rooke, over 600,000 users have signed up for Nostr. This could help onboard users to LN, as Nostr supports the Bitcoin payment network through Nostr Zap.
The Lightning Network is positioned to become the leading global payment network, as prominent personalities in the space have predicted. While the LN does not have a native token, there is a potential for LN nodes to earn fees for facilitating transactions and providing liquidity.
NFTs have been gaining traction in the web3 space, and many businesses are now turning to NFT marketing agencies and web3 agencies to help them promote their NFTs and sell them to their target audience. Twitter is a popular platform for NFT promotion, and many businesses are now leveraging Twitter NFT marketing to reach a wider audience.
With the Lightning Network’s growing liquidity, the potential for cheap and fast international payments, and the rise of NFTs, the future of the Lightning Network looks promising.
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