Since mid-January the continuous growth of the main network of the Lightning Network (LN) has been reported. This network, still in the testing phase, is designed to work as a second layer on Bitcoin's blockchain and handle the micro-payments of the same.
Lightning Network is one of the most anticipated scalability solutions for Bitcoin ecosystem participants, since it will allow small payments and very low commissions in a matter of seconds. However, because they are currently in the testing phase, their users may lose real bitcoins if they use it in the main network.
According to web portals of explorers and statistics of Lightning Network, currently they are working near 69 nodes, servers that support their main network. Between these nodes, approximately 135 payment channels have been formed, which in total are mobilizing about 1,354 bitcoins in the scale of satoshis units in each transfer and with commissions in a percentage according to the amount mobilized in each payment. These commissions are in less than 1 cent of American dollar each.
Current status of nodes and payment channels of Lightning Network. Source: https://lnmainnet.gaben.win/
To make a contrast, currently the commissions of the Bitcoin network for a transaction of an average size (250 kb), which is confirmed in approximately 20 minutes are for $ 21 each, according to the website estimatefee.com.
Since the beginning of last year, Lightning's test network has been in operation and currently has more than 967 nodes and 3,232 payment channels; which could be an indicator of the work they have been doing to develop this technology. For these reasons, several developers and companies have decided to move to the LN mainnet, no matter that it is still an unstable product with errors that could generate bitcoin loss to its users.
BUSINESS ADOPTION OF LIGHTNING NETWORK
Several companies such as TorGuard (online privacy), Bitrefill (mobile recharges) Y'alls (writing articles) have made bitcoin micropayments with the LN mainnet, in orders of less than 1 dollar each. With the launch of the latest implementation developed by Blockstream, called c-lightning, and a webstore to test it, the use of the LN mainnet has probably been further promoted.
This movement by Blockstream has generated a bit of friction with another LN developer team, Lightning Labs, something that could be detected when its co-founder Elizabeth Stark questioned it on Twitter, due to the fact that users can lose funds.
Despite the different positions on the use of the main network of LN, each user must be aware that currently is not a finished product and could lose their funds, if you decide to use it. On the other hand, this shows how close this technology is to having a massive use, which aims to increase the scalability of the Bitcoin platform and allow buying things as simple as a coffee.
In addition, the fact that users dare to use LN regardless of what is still in the testing phase and the risks involved, is indicative of the desperation among users to find a solution to the current congestion and high commissions in the Bitcoin platform.