Exploring the Centralization Risks of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network
For the vast majority of Bitcoin Core contributors, the Lightning Network is viewed as the best option for scaling Bitcoin to many millions of new users. But the system has not yet been implemented on the Bitcoin blockchain, which has left many to wonder whether it is wise to put so much hope and reliance behind an untested solution. At a recent event at....
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The Lightning Network may well be Bitcoin’s primary solution to the issue of scalability, but many skeptics believe there are unresolved issues with this layer-2 system for the blockchain. The possibility of too much centralization via so-called “supernodes” is one of the common criticisms of the Lightning Network, and attached to that is the fear of these new, mostly -centralized payment hubs having the capacity to censor transactions. Bitcoin Magazine recently reached out to BitGo Engineer and Statoshi.info creator Jameson Lopp to get his thoughts on the possible privacy issues....
The Lightning Network may well be Bitcoin’s primary solution to the issue of scalability, but many skeptics believe there are unresolved issues with this layer-2 system for the blockchain. The possibility of too much centralization via so-called “supernodes” is one of the common criticisms of the Lightning Network, and attached to that is the fear of these new, mostly -centralized payment hubs having the capacity to censor transactions. Bitcoin Magazine recently reached out to BitGo Engineer and Statoshi.info creator Jameson Lopp to get his thoughts on the possible privacy issues....
Lightning Labs, one of the prominent companies working to realize the lightning network, announcedthis week the alpha release of the open-source lightning daemon they've been spearheading: LND. While only compatible with Bitcoin’s testnet so far, the software is relatively feature-complete and operational. “We’re now looking for the wider community to test the software,” Joseph Poon, Lightning Labs developer and co-author of the lightning network white paper, told Bitcoin Magazine. “To get it ready for widespread use, but also to explore new use cases this enables.” The Lightning Network.....
Lightning developers discussed privacy concerns and the corresponding probable solutions for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network at the Bitcoin 2022 conference.
The Lightning Network is one of the most bullish developments that the Bitcoin ecosystem has seen so far. And all the available metrics point up, a healthy and vibrant network is brewing. However, investor Kevin Rooke took a deeper look and found out that the Lightning Network is probably even bigger than previously thought. “Inaccurate comparisons and privacy preserving features make it hard to truly understand how big the Lightning Network is.” Related Reading | Bitcoin Lightning Network Reaches Record Capacity What does Rooke mean by that? Let’s find out. The Lightning Network By....