Samson Mow's Doubles Down on Lightning Network's Capabilities

Blockchain technologies have been trying their best to outperform institutional assets and in many cases, that has been a success. Experts in the decentralized space believe that as long as decentralized technologies can beat traditional competitors the field will continue to sustain.

In a recent Twitter thread, Samson Mow, the CSO at Blockstream touched upon the fact that the Lightning Network’s total work rate had surpassed those of its competitors and even traditional mainstays.

According to analysis, the Lightning Network’s scaling capabilities had allowed it to overtake transaction rates put forth by Next-Gen blockchains as well as Visa and Alipay. The entire sector celebrated the fact that a blockchain solution had managed to beat the efficiency of worldwide systems such as Visa.

“Next-Gen” blockchains

Research showed that the Lightning Network-enabled by private channels could conduct up to 25.2 million transactions per second [tps] while the traditional Lightning came in second with 17.8 million tps. The hyped “Next-Gen” blockchains could only handle 400,000 tps while Visa and Alipay clocked a dismal 65,000 and 50,000 respectively.

The low transaction rates possessed by popular cryptocurrencies have been one of the major hindrances for its adoption rate. Bitcoin, while being the largest cryptocurrency in the market only possessed a transaction rate of 10 tps. Elaborating on LN’s capabilities, Mow tweeted:

“We also estimate that ~40% of channels and overall capacity are private. That means total LN capacity is approximately 1218 $BTC or ~10 million USD. #LightningNetwork theoretical throughput is calculated based on the total number of channels and a per channel capacity of 500 tps.”

The quick micro-transactions capability that the LN is known for has even made it to mainstream online markets. Eagle-eyed users noticed recently that the Lightning bug had even bitten pop sensation Lil Pump. The singer’s website now accepts Bitcoin payments via the LN for purchases.

Mow’s comments came in the wake of a BitMex report that showed that non-cooperative channel closures within the BTC LN made up of a majority of its activity. A non-cooperative channel closure occurs when a single member of an open channel leaves and reclaims their holdings from the network. Even Jameson Lopp had gotten in on the action by tweeting against the Lightning Network. The computer scientist went in all guns blazing stating:

“New report from BitMEX Research has found far more non-cooperative Lightning Network channel closures than expected, suggesting that there are a significant number of private channels that normally can’t be seen”

Conclusion.

The report has been doing the rounds for quite some time now but the proponents of the Lightning Network continue to stand steadfast on its capabilities. Bitcoin‘s peripherals have garnered a fresh boost because of the cryptocurrency’s recent price surge allowing it to climb towards the $9000 mark.