In a report published this Wednesday, Fidelity Digital Assents in Collaboration with Lightning Voltage Payment has published a report on the state of the Lightning network.
The report describes in detail the many ways in which the Lightning network has grown from its launch in 2018.
It also illustrates how multiple companies have started to incorporate lightning in 2024 of any previous year, that larger channels are forming on the network and that the more lightning knots are coming online.
Some key statistics of the piece include the following:
- The total lightning capacity called in US dollars increased by 2,767% from 2020
- Its capacity called in Bitcoin grew by 384% in the same period
- Currently, almost all payments on lightning lower than 1,000,000 Sat developed in less than 1.1 seconds
While these statistics made me optimistic, it was other information in the relationship that really resonated with me and made me rethink the way I see Bitcoin and Lightning.
Below there were the first three takeaways of the relationship:
- Lightning payments are gaining traction on Nostr (the largest Bitcoin circular economy in the world), since Nostr users have sent over 3.6 million individual zaps in the last six months
- Projects like Ark, another Bitcoin Layer 2 protocol, illustrate that Lightning has cases of use beyond peer-to-peer channels (ARK allows users to share virtual Utxos (Vutxos) with a wider group instead of an individual base) It can be built in ways that many initially have not anticipated
- The “Hodl” mentality is one of the things that still slow down the adoption of lightning; In other words, if Bitcoin enthusiasts do not spend their bitcoin, the growth of lightning can stagnate, which could damage the proposal for Bitcoin’s value
So, since we are here at the beginning of 2025, a year that many think that it will be great for lightning, I can’t help but be optimistic to see which type of traction earns the bright earnings in the next 10 months.
The time has come that Bitcoin is used more as a means of exchange, the way Satoshi intended to be.