There’s no more than a $100 million price of bitcoin on the Lightning Network for the first time since it launched in 2018.
The second layer scaling solution now holds 2,370 bitcoin, worth about $114 million, an all-time high with it seeing a gradual increase from 1,000 bitcoins earlier this year.
Since May however it has seen a jump of sorts, up from 1,200 bitcoins to now almost double because it sees certainly one of its fastest adoptions in years.
The jump sort of coincides with El Salvador declaring bitcoin as an authorized tender in June. Their parliament has now authorized a $150 million trust to manage bitcoin to USD conversion for retailers and customers.
As well as, each El Salvadorian that downloads the Chivo wallet is to be given $30 for free in bitcoin, a significant sum for the fairly poor country.
Businesses will now have to accept bitcoin there, although they’ll select to obtain the actual payment in USD, with the Lightning Network (LN) being necessary for such commerce as on-chain fees would otherwise make it prohibitively costly.
The jump thus may be preparations for this new growth that comes into drive this month as El Salvador diversifies from the dollar.
There may be other reasons as well. Twitter for instance is piloting the rollout of LN tips on the platform utilizing the Strike wallet.
Just how much usage that will find stays to be seen, but if it works out then the company may develop a new revenue stream by taking a cut of tips.
Lightning Network wallets nonetheless are typically custodians as managing liquidity and opening channels or connecting to watchtowers could be advanced for even subtle customers.
All that complexity is hidden underneath, but with tradeoffs as for custodian wallets generally, you don’t quite have the keys.
However, customers have the choice, with Lightning seemingly beginning to find some utilization because the second layer expertise develops enhancements.
