From the beginning, the Lightning Network (LN) was conceived as the most successful solution to solve the scalability problems that bitcoin presents. Although we remember, this was created an alternate layer, consisting of a set of channels and nodes that support large volumes of transactions in less time; even so, some inconveniences remained, such as the fact that only certain amounts of funds could be handled in simultaneous transactions.
However, according to the estimates of #recksplorer the network has been growing more compared to the figures for the month of June, not only in the number of nodes and channels enabled, but in the amount of money that can be routed. Regarding this, it has been determined that it currently has more than 2,400 nodes and 5,800 channels, through which it is possible to transfer up to 57 bitcoins (BTC) that credit about US $ 370 thousand.
These figures imply an increase of 130%, considering that the network had a maximum capacity of 30 bitcoins. Another factor is the number of nodes in the mainnet, which have exceeded those created in the beta phase of the project (testnet) last March 2018.
It should also be noted that its origin is derived from the problem of scalability of bitcoin blockchain, which handles around seven transactions per second, with a maximum size of 1MB for each block in the chain, affecting the performance of operations and creating slowness and transit in the operational process.
Taking the above into consideration, we return to what was published in other opportunities in Coincrispy:
The idea behind Lightning Network is that not all transactions must be registered in the main Bitcoin blockchain immediately. If there are frequent transactions between two or more people, with Lightning Network a payment channel will be created outside the blockchain so that these small transactions can be carried out more quickly and without so much cost. In this way the operations that will be registered in the blockchain following the traditional steps are the opening and closing of the payment channel.
An amazing fact recently reported - which contributed greatly to the increase in the network - was the creation of the largest node in the LN network; created by the CEO of cryptocurrency analysis and criticism site 'Shitcoin.com', Andreas Brekken, the so-called "king of nodes" recorded a transaction volume of $ 50 thousand dollars, which implies 15% of the total capacity of the LN network.