When the markets turn bearish, the trading volumes of the cryptocurrencies start experiencing declines. The trend is witnessed whenever the cryptocurrency market sees a decline in demand or moves to the bearish side.
Even now when the cryptocurrency market is facing a downtrend due to macroeconomic headwinds, many networks are seeing a decline in their trades.
Bitcoin Layer-2 Lightning Network Continues to Thrive
While many would think that Bitcoin might be facing the same problem, the reality is the complete opposite of the perception.
The Lightning Network which is based on the layer-2 protocol has been witnessing a great level of growth. The capacity for the Lightning Network has continued rising and it has reached a new milestone.
To be precise, the payments solution, powered through the layer-2 network has been thriving at a significant rate. The capacity of the network has also increased significantly ever since the bearish trend has begun for cryptocurrencies.
Lightning Network Capacity Reaches 5,000 BTC
The reports suggest that the Bitcoin Lightning Network has recorded a great increase in its capacity. The data suggests that after hitting a new milestone, Bitcoin’s new capacity for Bitcoin has risen to 5,000 BTC.
At the time of writing, 5,000 BTC capacity translates to $96 million. However, the number is constantly rising as more Bitcoins are finding their way to the Lightning Network payment.
The influx of Bitcoin into the Lightning Network has been from all over the world. It indicates that the Bitcoin community holds the Lightning Network in high regard due to its market potential.
Advantages of the Lightning Network
The Lightning Network had been launched more than four years ago with the aim of making Bitcoin a feasible cryptocurrency.
As the value of Bitcoin continued rising, its transaction fees on the main blockchain also continued growing expensive. At one point, the transaction fees for Bitcoin grew to an alarming figure.
Another major concern on the main blockchain was latency. The main blockchain could not support many Bitcoin transactions at a single time. Therefore, if the number of BTC transactions rose, it would end up causing delays and latencies in transactions.
In light of the above, a strong need was felt to have a network that would offer great utility and speed to Bitcoin. This is when the Lightning Network was introduced back in 2018.
It is worth mentioning that the Lightning Network has not only reduced the transaction fees greatly but has also increased the Bitcoin capacity.
It was only in the month of June when the Lightning Network’s Bitcoin capacity was 4,000 but it has been increased to 5,000 in October.
Countries such as Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, and El Salvador are already using the network for faster transactions of Bitcoin.
The Lightning Network is the main reason why the utility and transactions for Bitcoin would grow in size and volume.