The second-level protocol of the Lightning Network (LN) , which operates on the Bitcoin blockchain base and enables instant BTC transactions at almost zero costs, was officially launched in Mainnet in January 2018.
In just two weeks, network bandwidth was 4 BTC. Since then, LN has seen an explosive growth not only in the number of open channels, but also in their value.
To date, the Lightning Network channels contain about 500 BTC ($ 1,939,479), which means an increase in network bandwidth by more than a hundred times. In addition, currently the number of channels in the core network is approaching 16,000, which is 16 times more than at the beginning of the year.
Recall that at the end of November the bandwidth capacity of the Lightning Network was 438 BTC, demonstrating a 300% growth over the week. As we can see, although LN is a pilot project, since its developers continue to work on fault tolerance and ensuring basic security, the consensus mechanism and the technical capabilities of the network are becoming more and more perfect.
The growth rate of this network is exceptional. Such a pace, in fact, 10 000% per year, is inexplicable even in such an unpredictable environment as the cryptoindustry.
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