Bitcoin [BTC]’s Lightning Network capacity is now worth over $2 million

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network [LN] is growing faster than expected as the network capacity has increased to a massive 575 BTC worth $2.04 million.

Lightning Network was a solution that would help Bitcoin scale and handle all the transactions and new users that were pouring into the Bitcoin buzz. The LN adds another layer to Bitcoin’s blockchain and allows users to create a channel between users who can then transfer money in a two-way fashion with infinitesimal or no fees.

Lightning Network, since its inception, has grown massively and gained a lot of traction and become mainstream as it is instant and more secure.

As per the data obtained from 1ML, at the time of writing, the number of nodes for LN is at 5,376, which has increased by 20% since last month. The number of channels on the LN main net has also increased by a massive 42.7% in the last month and is currently at about 20,000 channels.

The network capacity has also increased by 21% and is currently worth up to 575 BTC i.e., approximately $205 million worth of BTC is currently on the Lightning Network main net. However, the node countdown is just a few hundred short of reaching a million.

However, these stats are different in comparison to a tweet by a user, @khannib. According to him, the total number of channels open as of January 14, 2019, are ~24K. Moreover, the total BTC value in all channels adds up to $582 BTC i.e., 2.06 million.

@BitfuryGeorge, a Twitter user commented:

“cant wait for the time when I open up my Lightning wallet ; transfer my BTCs and provide liquidity for massive number of micro-transactions.. Hey @rogerkver your deam of buying starbucks coffee for close to no fees –> coming up:”

@khannib tweeted:

“Less than 1 year ago, the Lightning Network crossed 1 BTC in channel capacity. Now it’s at 581 BTC. What will it be at in 2020?”

@JuanSaieh, a Twitter user commented:

“Redirecting revenue from miners to routing entities. Its not going to work. Anyone who understand bitcoin knows that miner bussines is sacred. The only problem that bitcoin solves is the double spending prevention.”