Bitcoin Lightning Network Capacity charges through 4,000 BTC

cointelegraph.com:

There’s cause for celebration from the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The Lightning Network hit the 4,000 Bitcoin (BTC) public capacity milestone, meaning $120 million in value is ready for peer-to-peer payments.

The Lightning Network first broke the 1,000 BTC barrier in August 2020 and the 2,000 BTC barrier in July 2021. The capacity has doubled in the space of 18 months.

CoinCorner CEO Daniel Scott told Cointelegraph that “we had slow and steady growth with Lightning capacity to begin, but since Jan 2021 the uptick has been strong.”

Danny Brewster, CEO of United Kingdom-based Bitcoin exchange Fast Bitcoins told Cointelegraph that Lightning Network capacity “likely passed 4k a long time ago with private channel metrics not being publicly available.”

A layer-2 payment protocol built on Bitcoin’s base layer, the Lightning Network allows for near-instant transaction finality. In the following video, Paco de la India — a Bitcoin-powered world traveler — buys a pair of shorts from Mozambique-based Bitcoiner Jorge, using the Lightning Network:

Day 261I got to buy a pair of shorts for #Bitcoin from Jorge in Tofo. Paid him sats via #paxful Lighting to his @MuunWallet Thanks to @BitcoinEkasi for orange pilling him. Jorge misses you. This is #btc adoption in MozambiqueObrigado,Paco#runwithbitcoin https://t.co/UqFtKZzfFL pic.twitter.com/JRMUel6twK

Lead on-chain analyst for Glassnode, James Check, told Cointelegraph, “The expansion of Bitcoin's Lightning Network appears to be transitioning out of the 'reckless' phase, and into proper experimentation by early adopters.”

Related: The Lightning Network Lunch: A Bitcoin contactless payment story

“As wallet designs and user experience improve, more kinks can be worked out, and the network