Bitcoin's Lightning Network Sees Considerable Growth, According to BitMEX Research
BitMEX Research, the analytics arm of the popular Bitcoin margin exchange, recently published a report on the Lightning Network (LN). The scaling solution for the world's largest cryptocurrency demonstrates considerable growth in several areas.
The Lightning Network, Bitcoin's off-chain scaling solution, continues to grow. According to a recent report from BitMEX Research, the number of non-cooperative channel closures has surpassed 60,000. More than 1,000 BTC has been spent on these transactions.
For a transaction to be characterized as a non-cooperative closing, its output must be redeemed during the fund sweep, after the channel closes.
[amazon box="1484255216"]Use of Bitcoin's Lightning Network grows
Using different research methodologies, BitMEX Research concluded that there have been more than 60 channel closures of this type in Lightning. They saw transactions that spent over 000 BTC. The report also describes another exciting thing: that this can be a sign of intense experimentation.
“The transaction volume here is quite large and may indicate more experimentation with lightning than many expected. The data also indicates that non-cooperative shutdowns are more common than people think,” the report reads.
However, a closer look at the capabilities of the network reveals that it is growing even more.
And it does not stop developing
The number of nodes on the Lightning Network has increased 2.5% in the last 30 days, surpassing 11,000 nodes. The number of channels also increased 1.9% over the same period, according to popular monitoring resource LN 1ML. The Lightning Network currently has a capacity of around 865 BTC. This is 1% more than you could handle before the last thirty days.
In any case, developments in the field of LN are particularly important. They are not only intended to help Bitcoin to reach the masses. Faster and at scale microtransaction handling is something that is needed for day-to-day applications, and so far the Lightning Network appears to be heading in the right direction.
