Bitcoin Lightning Network Capacity Reaches 5000 BTC

Bear markets are for building out capacity on the layer-2 Lightning Network. Despite macroeconomic headwinds and slow price developments, the Lightning Network, the layer-2 payment solution for Bitcoin (BTC), continues to flourish.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network reached a milestone capacity of 5,000 BTC ($96 million). In fact, more and more Bitcoins are being introduced to Lightning Network’s payment channels worldwide, as Bitcoiners continue to support the growth of the network.

The Lightning Network allows users to send Bitcoin (or satoshis, the smallest amount of a Bitcoin) to send or receive money faster and with lower fees. The more capacity on the network, the more liquidity is available. As a result, users may experience faster payment speeds and potentially larger transaction volumes.

The Lighting Network was first created in 2018 and has recently come under fire. Bitcoin influencers like Udi Wertheimer have discussed the network’s “failure”, claiming that no one User the network. Nevertheless, the network reached 4,000 BTC capacity in June and over the past four years has become a trusted payment network and is popular in El Salvador, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar:

Nourou, from Bitcoin Senegal, explains why LN is so important. He told Cointelegraph, “In Senegal, we have an economy of 50 FCFA. That is, Senegalese from the working and proletarian class, who represent the majority of the population, buy 50 FCFA (€0.07) for breakfast. of milk, sugar, coffee, water and many other basic products.”

“Microtransactions are our economic reality. For Bitcoin to become the standard for years to come, and in our economies, the lightning network must have enough capacity to support these microtransactions.”

Nicolas Burtey, CEO of Galoy, was one of the first to celebrate the 5,000 Bitcoin achievement. Burtey told Cointelegraph that the introduction of Bitcoin in El Salvador was the tipping point for the Lightning Network. That’s where all the calculations really started to take off.” He quipped, “The bill really should have been called the Lightning Act!”

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— Nicolas Burtey ⚡️⚡️ (@nicolasburtey) 3 October 2022

Burtey continued, explaining that while the 5,000 BTC metric is important, “The payment rate per channel is growing at an even faster rate. It’s a more meaningful metric, but only node operators can see it, so it’s not as prominent in the media.”

The Lightning Network, once a place for hobbyist bitcoin enthusiasts, now appeals to large corporations. MicroStrategy is now hiring for a Bitcoin Lightning Software Engineer. MicroStrategy is the largest holder of Bitcoin among publicly traded companies, with 130,000 BTC on its balance sheet.

Related: Raise a glass to Satoshi’s Place: the challenge of running Bitcoin businesses

Elsewhere, Strike, a Bitcoin Lightning company led by Jack Mallers, raised $80 million to “revolutionize payments” for merchants. Mallers and Strike led El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption plans in 2021.

For Nourou, who is hosting the Dakar Bitcoin Days in December, the first major Bitcoin conference in Senegal, the milestone of 5,000 BTC is monumental: “An increase in BTCs blocked in the network and the number of channels opened in parallel is a further step towards democratization of Bitcoin transactions in the world.”