- Keyfest 2022 prompted the question as to whether the Lightning Network is decentralized – the very essence of the layer 2 protocol overlay of the blockchain
- Unlike fiat currency, which is ultimately governed by The Federal Reserve, Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is comprised of nodes and channels with no direct governing body
- The success of the Lightning Network since January 2021 is driving LQwD’s drive for the new year
In a 2015 white paper draft, Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja laid out the Lightning Network for the first time. Two years later, in 2017, the first transaction was made on the layer 2 payment protocol layered on top of a block-based cryptocurrency. Since then, and especially in the past year, the Lightning Network has grown considerably, making transactions among nodes faster and with lower fees.
The Lightning Network was among the topics of discussion at Keyfest 2022, organized on January 5-7 by Casa, a Bitcoin custody provider and personalized key manager. At its second edition this year, Keyfest is a virtual festival celebrating the past, present, and future of personal keys. Here, the brightest minds in Bitcoin come together for three days of conversation and workshops discussing a future where everyone owns their wealth, identity, and data.
The blockchain itself was created as a decentralized infrastructure, one free of control from the government and other central authorities. The fiat currency system in the United States begins with one central node – The Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has the power over the entire process, but it trickles down into supporting nodes and channels – 12 total central banks and 24 supportive branches. The Lightning Network, however, allows anyone to open a channel without any permission required.
The prompt for the question was the number of nodes and channels popping up on the Lightning Network. There is a difference in the security of banks and Bitcoin – with Bitcoin requiring public and private keys, making it more secure than the fiat currency bank’s single symmetrical key requirement, it was underlined during the event.
LQwD FinTech (TSX.V: LQWD) (OTCQB: LQWDF), a fintech company focused on the creation of enterprise-grade infrastructure to drive bitcoin adoption, has developed lqwd.tech, the company’s proprietary platform as a service (“PaaS”) that allows users to execute transactions on the Lightning Network instantly, securely, and with fewer fees.
Since the June 2021 acquisition, LQwD has cumulatively acquired over C$9,000,000 (US$7.19 million) worth of Bitcoin as both a reserve and operating asset for the company, some of which is already being used on the Lightning Network. The company’s holdings is around 150 Bitcoin at this time. LQwD has also entered into two strategic service agreements, one with the leading Canadian crypto trading platform Netcoins, Inc., a subsidiary of BIGG Digital Assets Inc., and the other with Breez Development Ltd., an Israeli-based Lightning Network wallet provider.
“I wanted to take a moment to recap what has been an active six months for LQwD since listing in June,” LQwD CEO Shone Anstey said (https://nnw.fm/XFnSV). “The remarkable growth of the Lightning Network has validated LQwD’s reason to be hyper-focused on Lightning, and I look forward to continuing to expand our business on this rapidly growing global payment network.”
The remarkable growth that Anstey speaks of refers to the multiple milestones reached by the Lightning Network since January 2021, including:
- Node growth of 105% from 770 to 15,000 established nodes
- A Bitcoin capacity increase of 160% (from 1,125 BTC to almost 3,000 BTC)
- Payment channels reached up to 92% established, from 38,000 to 73,000 payment channels
LQwD is now hyper-focused in 2022 on continuing its expansion and on the rapidly growing global payment network. The company expects cryptocurrency’s popularity to continue growing and the Lightning Network to become a force for change worldwide and the global monetary exchange of the future.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.LQwDFinTech.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to LQWDF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://nnw.fm/LQWDF
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