After expanding its capacity by 85% in July, Lightning Network (LN) on the Bitcoin (BTC) mainnet exceeded 3,000 nodes and got closer to 100 BTC in capacity in the first week of August. The data gathered by the monitoring resources site 1ml.com determined that the LN reached a total funds accommodation of 97 BTC or about $630,000.
Lightning Network experienced rapid growth in July
Initially deployed at the beginning of 2018, the Lightning Network experienced a high-paced growth in Q2 2018. In May, the network’s capacity was somewhere below 18 BTC and had explosive growth in July.
Even though the LN continued to expand rapidly, the relatively new technology keeps rising concerns and critics from a part of the Bitcoin (BTC) community and some crypto enthusiasts, mostly regarding the alleged centralization of the Lightning Network.
In reply to these accusations, the network’s developer, known as StopAndDecrypt, explained how the visual maps only give the illusion of the decentralization.
“The fact of the matter is, this network graph actually does a really terrible job of presenting the Lightning Network to you. It’s pretty and fun to play with, but it does everyone involved an analytic injustice,” the developer asserted in a blog post.
Lightning Network gains support despite its current issues
Also, many crypto fans and blockchain technology enthusiasts complain about the fact that Lightning Network might not have the expected ability to operate Bitcoin (BTC) transactions.
As pointed out in an older article on the Bitcoinist, the developers of the Lightning Network primarily focused on the stability of the network and not on the sums conducted on it, for the moment, so any transaction over approximately three cents is not guaranteed to be successfully carried on.
Despite its current flaws, Lightning Network on the Bitcoin (BTC) mainnet keeps raising the interest of investors, crypto community, and developers. Many came into support, with Charlie Lee, the Litecoin (LTC) founder, leading the pack, who stated that Lightning network would eventually be the “ultimate decentralized exchange.”
