Lightning Labs Launches Lightning Network Client for Main Bitcoin Network

Published at: April 24, 2019

Blockchain development company Lightning Labs announced that it released the first alpha version of its Lightning Network (LN) client for the main bitcoin (BTC) network, according to a blog post published on April 23.

The announcement specifies that this is still an early version aimed at testers and developers willing to start experimenting with the software. The developers also warn that the users should not put more funds into the app than they are willing to lose.

Furthermore, while the release supports macOS, Windows and Linux, the post also specifies that it is an important stepping stone in the development of a mobile version. The team notes:

“We’re working as quickly as we can to get our mainnet iOS and Android apps out soon.”

Lightning Labs also claims to be committed to privacy, security and self-determination, the principles that it believes bitcoin was built on. The announcement explains that, to deliver a system in line with those principles, the company needs to release an easy to use non-custodial client solution. The post notes:

“Scaling Bitcoin and Lightning to everyone means not requiring people to follow complex setup processes or hand over control of their funds to trusted counterparties.”

The newly-released solution uses the Neutrino bitcoin light client, which reportedly allows for the use of the LN scalability solution without downloading the entire blockchain first or handing over control over funds. Per the announcement, Neutrino only needs to download and verify tens of megabytes, which can be done in minutes, enabling practical use on smartphones and other low-power devices.

As Cointelegraph reported yesterday, crypto payments processing startup Moon is launching a web browser extension that allows e-commerce shoppers to use their LN bitcoin wallets for purchases on sites like Amazon.

Also, at the beginning of the current month, news broke that the United States-based startup Sparkswap has completed a successful seed funding round to create a decentralized exchange based on the bitcoin LN.

Tags
Blockchain
Bitcoin
Scalability
Lightning Network
Related Posts
Total BTC Fees for On-Chain Transactions Surged 50% in Last 24 Hours
The total fees paid for on-chain Bitcoin (BTC) transactions over the last 24 hours increased over 50% since yesterday. On-chain data analytics service, Glassnode, pointed out several major developments shown by Bitcoin’s blockchain data. According to the firm, total Bitcoin fees paid over the last 24 hours increased by 50.7% to over $9,500. Furthermore, the Bitcoin mean fee paid by users increased by 58.8%, reaching $0.78. Meni Rosenfeld, the Chairman of the Israeli Bitcoin Association, told Cointelegraph that he believes 24-hour fees show too short a timeframe to be particularly significant. He pointed out that historic data shows that the …
Blockchain / April 23, 2020
New Lightning Network Authentication Method Could Replace Website Accounts
Blockchain firm Lightning Labs drafted the specifications of a new Lightning Network-based authentication system that could replace traditional email-based accounts. According to a March 30 announcement, the Lightning Service Authentication Tokens (LSAT) is a new authentication protocol for paid services. The system issues Lightning-based tokens for users after they paid for the service in Bitcoin (BTC) instead of providing their personal information for traditional email-based accounts. The lightning tokens in question act as tickets for the purchased resources and encode what resource it grants access to. The tokens can be exchanged, revoked and modified after being issued. LSAT also reportedly …
Blockchain / March 31, 2020
RIF Labs Launches 3rd-Layer Scalability Solution Capable of Processing Up to 5K TPS
RIF Labs — owner of bitcoin-based smart contract sidechain Rootstock (RSK) developer RSK Labs — has launched a third-layer scalability solution capable of processing up to 5,000 transactions per second. The news was revealed in a press release from RIF News on May 14. As reported, RSK Labs and its decentralized app (DApp) infrastructure protocols RIF OS began as a spin-off from Rootstock, having been initially launched by several senior executives from the latter’s creator — the startup RSK Labs. The two structures became fully integrated when RIF Labs acquired RSK Labs in November 2018. Originally conceived by Bitcoin Core …
Blockchain / May 15, 2019
Bitcoin transaction fees briefly doubled yet remain exceptionally low
Got some Satoshi to send or Bitcoin (BTC) wallets to reorganize? It’s increasingly cheap to do so. According to an Arcane Research report, Bitcoin “transaction fees have stayed low since July 2021, showing no signs of rising.” There was, however, a small bump in transaction fees last week. Shown as a small jump at the tail end of the graph, clustering of the mempool pushed “up the average transaction fees per day over the past seven days to $691,000, a doubling since last Tuesday.” Nonetheless, the doubling in transaction fees is insignificant: transaction fees remained in a low range. Miners …
Adoption / March 9, 2022
Bitcoin transaction fees hit decade lows, here's why
It’s a great time to move Bitcoin (BTC) between wallets and exchanges. Bitcoin transaction fees have hit all-time lows in BTC, according to research by Galaxy Digital. #bitcoin fees are at all-time lows. the craziest thing? fall 2021 was the first bull run not accompanied by a major spike in fees. how is that possible? what does it mean? here's a thread explaining the most confounding (and awesome) chart in bitcoin. (remember june 2021) pic.twitter.com/gnWssTckX2 — Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) April 5, 2022 As shown on the graph below, the Bitcoin mean transaction fee has plummeted to 0.00004541 Bitcoin ($2.06) in …
Adoption / April 6, 2022