The Lightning Network Daemon or LND, that gives the opportunity to developers accessing the specific network, is the first mainnet beta release with the plan to change Bitcoin’s future as a currency and its use.
“This release is also the first release of lnd that has an option to run on Bitcoin’s mainnet, with the necessary safety, security, and fault-tolerance features required for real-world, real money usage,” Lightning Labs wrote in an accompanying blog post.
The date only concludes one of the marks that the roadmap has ahead, as the technology is experiencing an increase in adoption and technical progress. The protocol has already grown almost 2k channels and over 1k nodes.
Keeping in mind that the group of supporters include tech giant Microsoft, it is of no surprise that individuals like Jack Dorsey – Twitter CEO, SpaceX and Tesla angel investor Bill Lee, Charlie Lee – Litecoin creator and Vlad Tenev – Robinhood co-founder, will be funding and backing up the project.
Publicly – the very respected in the crypto-community Lee has declared his enthusiasm for Lightning Network, having posts being dedicated about the future of the project.
Samson Mow – CSO Blockstream also has continued his positive and bullish approach towards the network.
So to grok the whole #LightningNetwork, it’s like everyone can open a tab with everyone else in the world. So basically everyone is a bartender. 🍻
— Samson Mow (@Excellion) March 14, 2018
The technology has not advanced without criticism, however. Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd voiced concerns over hasty uptake of the protocol before security questions had been resolved this month, arguing the potential for users to lose money made a fast rollout irresponsible.
In the same manner, Andreas Antonopoulos did have a doubtful and bearish standing point towards the development since January.
