Lightning network stats: 111 BTC • 3.5K nodes • 12.0K channels

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

84.99 BTC capacity ($551,042.77)
3,196 nodes
11,313 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,687

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

85.77 BTC capacity ($572,702.59)
3,211 nodes
11,415 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,585

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

86.87 BTC capacity ($564,148.54)
3,236 nodes
11,508 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,492

[franky1]

I'm very interested in your comparison of LN nodes (factories) with bank branches and between them, there is one very significant difference IMHO.
Lightning Network Hubs:
No KYC, no AML.

1. you cant just have funds and throw it at a destination when using LN.
   a) first you need to lock your funds into a contract. which gives a scond party duel signature control of.(setting up a bank account)
   b) then you need to route your funds from the factory(central deposit) to a hub(choosing which regional bank branch you wish to frequent most often)
   c) then when spending the funds that were allocated to your local bank branch account(channel). the hub needs to sign off on it.
   d) and so does every attached hub on the route to the destination.. and
   d) even the destination needs a hub manager to be awake and online to accept payment because your destined friend may be asleep
   e) where things like banking hours may develop where not everyone is online all the time so certain times of day become better to transact(best routes)

as for AMLKYC
go research into latest regulatory reports about making it compulsory for "custodians" to KYC... look at the new crypto companies starting up that are not doing finance but doing identity.. where do you think they link into the picture..

here is what will happen
factoris will register as custodians and do KYC. and be allowed to handle large amounts of funding. they however need to register thier channel partners who also reach a certain value limit to avoid AML alerts. and if the network overview shows they have channeled to a node that has high value but cant be KYC'd the factories will rfuse to channel with them to avoid being alerted as a possible AML risk.

eventually nodes with high value but no KYC wont find acceptable channel partners. and as we all should know by now, due to the 8 degrees of separation theory. (some say lower numbr) everyone including the small value channels will be KYC'd due to thier near partnerage of a registered AMLKYC factory/watchtower


last point.
if you think LN is going to be more private and 'off the grid' .. think again. just look at the stats that get posted.
nodes are PUBLICLY publishling their holdings, numbers of channels and values in each.
if LN was more private than onchain. none of the stats would be able to be published.

[cdoyle14]

It feels like the lightning network was something non-significant and nobody saw it, but now I see it gaining popularity day by day. I really wish that lightning would be prospective because I do believe in that Project.

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

88.29 BTC capacity ($587,239.37)
3,254 nodes
11,556 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,444

[arde13]

you cant just have funds and throw it at a destination when using LN...

Thank you for the explanation of your point of view.
I agree with almost everything at this moment.

If we are trying to predict how the LN will work in the future, then again, I agree with you that the KYC/AML might be mandatory.
Also, I guess that the network operation scheme will be improved and it is possible that throwing money at the direction will be simplified for the end user, as it happened in due time with the Internet protocols.

And one thing to think about: not one bank or any other service will ever agree to pay for my coffee on bail for my bitcoins without LN or a similar system.

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

87.83 BTC capacity ($608,488.50)
3,276 nodes
11,565 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,435

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

97.67 BTC capacity ($714,050.57)
3,325 nodes
11,834 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,166

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

100.68 BTC capacity ($714,050.57)
3,334 nodes
11,950 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 988,052

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

101.09 BTC capacity ($647,666.28)
3,373 nodes
10,675 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 989,325

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

105.19 BTC capacity ($677,658.27)
3,390 nodes
12,026 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 987,974

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

113.59 BTC capacity ($703,075.60)
3,414 nodes
12,199 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 987,801

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

115.65 BTC capacity ($727,540.18)
3,433 nodes
12,306 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 987,694

[arde13]

The new Lightning app, powered by the Neutrino light client


This release includes a complete redesign and optimized backend targeted toward light clients



As Bitcoin and Lightning are reliant on complex cryptographic protocols, it’s essential to expose only what’s necessary to users and give a clear explanation of what’s going on. In the screenshot above, we use the wording “Recovery Phrase” instead of “Mnemonic Seed” which is often found in other wallet apps. Not only does this describe to the user why this is important in a clear manner, it’s also terminology that might be familiar to the user from Hardware wallets like Ledger or the Apple account “Recovery Key”.



In the screenshot of the channels list the user can see where their funds are currently allocated. Our intention is for dark mode screens to become less prominent over time as the Lightning protocol and infrastructure matures to the point that users don’t have to worry about them at all and payments “just work”.



Although users can easily toggle between fiat or BTC with a click on the home screen, we’re planning to experiment with displaying the user’s local fiat currency by default.


Try the alpha release on testnet today!

This concludes the overview of our new desktop app. The application code is open source and licensed under GPLv3. To try the alpha release on testnet, just do the following:

Download the latest release for your OS: https://github.com/lightninglabs/lightning-app/releases
Head on over to a faucet and fund your wallet with testnet BTC: https://testnet.coinfaucet.eu/en/
Wait a few minutes for the wallet to sync. Once completed, the app will open payment channels automatically. The funding transactions need to confirm just like regular on-chain transactions.
Go to a site that supports Lightning like Yalls and buy something: https://testnet.yalls.org

Full article: https://blog.lightning.engineering/announcement/2018/09/10/lightning-app.html

[Nellayar]

wow that is great one, please i would like to know more about this lightning network  i have opened it but can't comprehend it can someone narrate to me more clearer.

Me too because I do not have deeper understanding about the technicalities of cryptocurrency. However, I knew how lightning works will help the bitcoin to perform a fast and easy transaction. It will give an easy and functional system for two individual person that will make the transaction using bitcoin.

[franky1]

arde
i know light wallet phone apps are for common people. but i wouldnt be to rushing into "just works"
the full decentralised desktop nodes will tinker with the code and change opcodes and other things to gain the upper hand of transactions. so it is still best to have a feature where users can see what they are signing(rax tx) rather than just have everything on autopilot/auto accept

even if we totally forget about bugs, changing opcodes. .. and just think about the auto accept/autopilot of routing funds...
you can get played

me1 [0.15 <:> 0.15] you [0.15 <:> 0.15]me2

me1 can you send me2 payment of 0.15
me1 [0.00 <:> 0.30] you [0.00 <:> 0.30] me2

me2 i close channel thank you for the free* 0.3  *ill explain this below
me2:  "random announcement: if 2 people connect to arde and send 0.15each to me1. they can later HYIP arde into turning each of your 0.15 into 0.3


me1 [0.00 <:> 0.30] you [0.15 <:> 0.15] HYIP1
                                      [0.15 <:> 0.15] HYIP2

HYIP1 can you send me1 payment of 0.15
HYIP1 can you send me1 payment of 0.15

me1 [0.30 <:> 0.00] you [0.30 <:> 0.00] HYIP1
                                      [0.30 <:> 0.00] HYIP2


me1 closes channel... yep thank you for the free coin...
me1 started with deposit 0.15.. ended with withdrawal 0.3
me2 started with deposit 0.15.. ended with withdrawal 0.3

total gain 0.3

[lightningslotmachine]

Has anyone done the math to see when we will hit a 1 million active channels with the current rate of progress?

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

115.79 BTC capacity ($748,669.66)
3,454 nodes
12,435 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 987,565

[arde13]

According to Lightning Network Info mainnet has reached:

114.95 BTC capacity ($745,531.11)
3,475 nodes
12,397 channels

Countdown to 1 million active channels: 987,603