Bitcoin’s Layer 2 Lightning Network has grown an estimated 1,212% in two years, with approximately 6.6 million routed transactions in August, up from 503,000 in August 2021, according to data from Bitcoin (BTC)-only exchange River Significant growth compared to transactions.
on October 10 ReportRiver research analyst Sam Wouters explained that despite a 44% drop in Bitcoin prices and a significant drop in online search interest, there has been a jump in routing transactions (using more than two nodes to facilitate transfers).
“‘No one uses lightning’ should be a dead meme now,” Waters explain In a follow-up X (Twitter) post on October 10, critics of the Lightning Network were attacked.
“No one uses lightning” should be a dead meme now.
launch new #bitcoin Report from @river: How the Lightning Network grew 1212% in 2 years ⚡
It’s time to spotlight the incredible work of so many people in this space, links below pic.twitter.com/FuGLwGHR4R
— Sam Waters (@SDWouters) October 10, 2023
River’s Lightning routing transaction count is 6.6 million, which is a lower-end estimate — the smallest possible value it can evaluate.The company also took data from August 2021 on 503,000 study provided by K33 (formerly Arcane Research), adding that it cannot evaluate private lightning transactions or transactions between just two participants.
In August 2023, the transaction volume processed by the Lightning Network also reached $78.2 million, a 546% increase from the $12.1 million transaction volume provided by K33 in August 2021. Wouters pointed out that the Lightning Network is currently processing at least 47% of Bitcoin on-chain transactions.
“That would be an interesting metric to monitor,” he added. “This shows that Bitcoin is increasingly becoming a medium of exchange.”
In August 2023, the average transaction size on the Lightning Network was approximately 44,700 satoshis or $11.84. River estimates that between 279,000 and 1.1 million Lightning users were active in September.
The company attributed 27% of its transaction growth to the gaming, social media tipping and streaming industries.
related: Coinbase to integrate Bitcoin Lightning Network: CEO Brian Armstrong
River said that in August 2023, the success rate of Lightning payments on its platform was 308,000 transactions, a success rate of 99.7%. The main reason for failure is the inability to find a payment path with sufficient liquidity to conduct the transfer.
River’s dataset contains 2.5 million transactions. Nodes in the River dataset represent 29% of all capacity on the network and 10% of payment channels.
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