Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Has a Problem: People Are Already Using It

Fake money is boring.

At least, that's the contention of numerous micropayment enthusiasts, whose impatience for the Lightning Network has prompted an influx of genuine bitcoin being transacted over the network, even though developers caution individuals against doing so since it's still in the testing phase.

"The testnet just doesn't have the same adrenaline rush," representatives of VPN service TorGuard told Coinmarkets, after announcing it would accept Lightning payments.

What's more, they're not the main ones – Blockstream launched a Lightning-just merchandise store using its own particular Lightning implementation, c-lightning, and a Lightning main net adventurer suggests more than $33,000 in bitcoin has been transacted via Lightning Networks.

The excitement is not hard to explain – the off-chain technology promises near-instant transaction speeds with vastly diminished fees – and numerous enthusiasts believe using the network on the bitcoin mainnet, as opposed to on the testnet, will speed up the time it takes to get the Lightning Network prepared for prime time.

"I think it's time for [Lightning Network] to go live, even if still buggy. But this is the best way to harden it," one Twitter user wrote.

However utilizing the network while it's still in development has not just prompted perplexity as to its availability, but on the other hand it's made a few people lose genuine bitcoin reserves. Hence, Blockstream's choice has been condemned, and others have called opening Lightning channels with a large number of dollars of bitcoin "crazy."

Disregarding tenacious notices, however, mainnet usage of Lightning as of now have more than 205 nodes and 548 channels, at squeeze time, with no indication of slowing down.

However, what this force is abating, as per designers, is the rate at which Lightning will be protected to use on the bitcoin mainnet.

As Pierre-Marie Paidou, who creates Lightning at ACINQ, told Coinmarkets:

¤<< Recently we have seen more and more users configuring their software for mainnet, some thinking that this will make Lightning Network deployment happen faster somehow. >>

¤ Distracting the devs

Be that as it may, that is simply not the situation.

In a current meeting, CEO of Lightning Labs, Elizabeth Stark, approximated the engineer rely on the Lightning Network to be as low as ten individuals – a factor which as nitty gritty by Coinmarkets could be backing off the arrival of the tech. Maybe because of this lack, Lightning Labs has engaged clients to quit sending money over the framework, expressing that, "It has turned into a superfluous diversion for our devs."

"A lot of people want to get on mainnet and it’s hard to tell them that it’s not quite ready and that they should test on testnet," said Alex Bosworth, a Lightning developer. "I wouldn't recommend using mainnet unless you are explicitly testing and fully know what you are doing."

As indicated by Bosworth, who runs two of his own mainnet hubs, one noteworthy issue Lightning developers could keep running into as they move to discharge a mainnet implementation is waiting be backwards-compatible, so the up and coming discharge would interoperate with the current models being developed.

In the event that the incipient mainnet keeps on developing – it has multiplied in hub tally in the previous 72 hours – it could "reduce the speed of development," as devs would "have to worry about keeping backwards compatibility with previous versions," Bosworth said.

Yet, even with all this in mind, there's no sign active use will stop.

"We plan on keeping our Lightning Network nodes up and running permanently to help support the network," said TorGuard CEO Ben Van Pelt

¤ Finding bugs

Also, that lines up with Lightning adopter David R. Sterry's safeguard of the active utilization of the in-development network, saying the criticism "isn't unanimous," and including that developers "could have made it harder to do if really against it."

He continued, "There are some issues you'll only find with real money."

What's more, mainnet testing has prompted the revealing of a few bugs.

As per the International Business Times, Blockstream's sending of the tech led to the disclosure of 20 bugs in the initial 14 hours following its dispatch. Furthermore, the CEO of TorGuard, Ben Van Pelt, revealed to Coinmarkets the company has experienced a couple of bugs en route, yet none that have made the company or its clients lose money.

In this same vein, CSO of Blockstream Samsom Cut tweeted: "Using Lightning Network on mainnet isn't just bug fixing, stickers and being reckless. It's also learning about usability issues that we may not be considering."

But Paidou thinks this overlooks an important point, saying once the network is live, "Every bug encountered will potentially be orders of magnitude more costly in terms of development resources. That's why on the way to a stable, working Lightning Network, rushing things will not make us actually go faster."

The active network "just puts more pressure and adds more distraction to the already small number of people actually doing the development," he continued, adding:

¤ << Let's not forget that [developers] are the scarcest resource of all. >>¤