Even As Cryptocurrency Prices Crash, Bitcoin Lightning Network Gets Massive Boom

Ever since BTC was invented, its early developers have been trying to make it scalable to promote mass adoption. This year, the cryptocurrency winter stumbled many startups, leading many key figures in the industry into bankruptcy. However, the Bitcoin Lightning Network has experienced tremendous growth during this same period. The network is providing scaling solutions like never before.

One of the developers at OpenNode, Rui Gomes said that Bitcoin Lightning is an off-chain system that facilitates low-cost, instant and scalable transactions for the Bitcoin network. The growth of this network, however, hasn’t been consistent. In a few days time, Bitcoin Lightning will be able to facilitate 500 BTC. In his words:

“The Bitcoin Lightning Network has reached 500 BTC capacity. It continues to grow even if its growth is at a staggering pace. You can now run your own open channels and nodes with low on-chain fees in this bear market before the bulls come back.”

Not long after the tweet was posted, the 1ML Lightning analytics provider corroborated the stats. The statistics showed that node channels that support the Lighting scaling protocol can now support 496.49 BTC. At current prices, this rounds up to about $1.93 million. All indications prove that the number is going to increase in the next few months. Last month, the network capacity increased by 13% even though the market was struggling at the time.

A well-known Crypto Graffiti, who has built a reputation in the cryptocurrency space recently told a story about Bitcoin on Reddit. The story was about how he auctioned a micro-painting of a black swan (it was meant to symbolize the global stage of cryptocurrency) on the Lightning Network. According to the artist, this piece of art sold, not to the highest, but to the lowest bidder. This was done to make fun of how the most people in the cryptocurrency industry are focused on the price of BTC. The artist also did this to promote the second-layer protocol. The artist sold the piece for just one-million Satoshi which is appropriately $0.000000037.

It’s true that the painting was sold as part of a joke but the artist was trying to say that micropayments, particularly the Bitcoin Lightning Network, have been applicable in his or her life. The artist posted:“I am super excited about what a future that is full of micropayments will be. Writers will be paid by the poem, artists by the view while musicians will be paid by the listen. Day-to-day interactions will be complemented with money. I believe that this micro auction will inspire others to focus on the future of Bitcoin rather than the price.”

Keep in mind that the campaign by so many people for a more scalable network hasn’t gone unnoticed. Joey Krug, during an interview with Bloomberg, said that one of the factors holding cryptocurrencies down is a lack of scalability. According to Krug, if blockchain networks can scale properly, the cryptocurrency market will experience exponential growth.

In a bid to break out of the long-term bearish wave, BTC is currently green against the USD at $4,071.66. This shows that it is up by 4.54% against the USD with a trading volume of $6,245,091,958 and a market capitalization of $71,004,474,786.