The Bitcoin Lightning Network has recently hit a significant milestone as a result of a huge surge in the number of users. As at the time of writing, a statistical report from 1ML shows that the Bitcoin Lightning Network, for the very first time, is presently housing almost 2000 (1996.59) BTC in its channels.
The Bitcoin Lightning Network is an alternative payment protocol added to the Bitcoin Network to enable quicker as well as cheaper transactions to be made off-chain, hence reducing the workload on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The data from 1ML further showed that there are currently 23,516 nodes and 59,462 active channels on the Bitcoin Lightning Network with approximately $76.1 million worth of Bitcoins being transacted via the network.
Comparing this to a similar report barely a year ago, the number of active nodes has doubled, growing from 13,185 to 23,516.
The current numbers are not so surprising as the Bitcoin Lightning Network has had a promising future since its creation. Over the years, it has recorded a steady increase in the amount of Bitcoin it holds. The network’s adoption by some countries as well as by some popular crypto exchanges might have also been a contributing factor to this latest development.
El-Salvador earlier this year officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in the country as well as the Bitcoin Lightning Network as a transaction option because of the cheap amount of fees it offers for transactions. The move by El-Salvador led to a massive increase in the number of active nodes on the Lightning Network about a month ago.
Earlier this year, Coinfomania also reported that popular China-based crypto exchange company, OKcoin, adopted the Bitcoin Lightning Network as a transaction option, offering its users a benefit of a 99% decrease in the transaction fees.
