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Lightning Speed: Eight Mind-blowing Facts About The Lightning Network

Welcome to “Lightning Speed,” a new section in which NewsBTC will explore the possibilities that Bitcoin’s Lightning Network opens. In this first edition, we will focus on Peter St Onge’s “The Lightning Network is About to Change the World” article. According to his bio, the academic “holds a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University, and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from McGill University.” Make of that what you will. 

St Onge was at the Free State Project’s Porcfest in New Hampshire when he had an epiphany. “The Lightning Network is now moving Bitcoin exponentially closer to becoming a true universal medium of exchange that is controlled by the people, not by governments.” That’s right. Bitcoin already won the store of value race, but, with the Lightning Network, it becomes the apex medium of exchange. What does this mean for the world?

Lightning At The Porcfest

Before we blow minds, let’s explore the Free State Project’s Porcfest real quick. St Onge sets the stage:

“As we enjoyed the mild New Hampshire summer, people wandered over to buy $2 sodas with Bitcoin, paying instantly and with zero transaction fee. I watched patient bitcoiners onboard Lightning newbies, taking them from zero to a Lightning wallet full of fresh hot sats in literally 5 minutes. It was the iconic “buy a coffee with Bitcoin” on steroids.”

Yes, #LightningNetwork is being used at #PorcFest2021. Ana sold a water to @jfcarpio as @Joe_Saz watches pic.twitter.com/sUou8otfP4

— Patrick Motorist (@BitcoinMotorist) June 27, 2021

This was before everybody and their grandmothers went to Bitcoin Beach to test the Lightning Network first hand. Watching the transaction’s speed and comfort, St Onge knew. This was “Confirmation that the Bitcoin developer ecosystem has now built the holy grail: Bitcoin as a true medium of exchange. One where transfers are instant, essentially free, and as easy to use as the simplest app on your phone.”

St Onge’s Four Insights About The LN As A Medium Of Exchange

  • The fees are really that cheap. St Onge recalls, “our sats party replicated what’s now going on across the world. Just last week at El Salvador’s now-famous Bitcoin Beach, 20,000 near-instant transactions went around with aggregate fees of $4.98. One-fortieth of a penny per transaction.” 
  • Traditional banking can’t compete. “For perspective, that’s about 500 times cheaper than the credit card fee on a $5 cappucino, and it’s at least 4,000 times cheaper than the average credit card transaction fee.”
  • It gets better. The fees are not correlated to the transaction’s total amount. “Note, 1/40 of a penny would cover essentially any amount — you could buy a house with Lightning for 1/40 penny.” 
  • The Lightning Network doesn’t sleep. “It transfers instantly, 24/7 including holidays, and is able to leap national borders and regulatory gatekeepers with zero effort.”

BTC price chart for 12/04/2021 on Tradestation | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
St Onge’s Four Insights About The Lightning Network’s Growth & Potential

  • The network is growing exponentially. “Lightning Network statistics have exploded since May, with network capacity now expanding by an annualized 635%. As these new Lightning apps onboard millions of people, they then pass along and train newbies by word-of-mouth, creating exponential growth that can very quickly go from irrelevant to dominant.” 
  • The project has been years in the making. “The original Lightning Network White Paper came out in 2015, and after heady growth through 2019, the Network was essentially moribund these past 2 years.”
  • Most altcoins are no longer needed. “First, it knocks the legs out of competing “medium of exchange” (MOE) coins like Dogecoin, Bcash, Ripple, Litecoin, or their many knock-offs.” 
  • This is just the beginning. “Just as the internet needed user-friendly interfaces (web browsers) before it could really change the world, Bitcoin needed user-friendly interfaces to grow beyond money and towards being the base layer — the “rails” — for decentralized services built on Bitcoin alone.”

The Lightning Network is changing the world already. Because of that fact, NewsBTC created “Lightning Speed,” a feature about the possibilities that Bitcoin’s Lightning Network opens.

Featured Image: jplenio on Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

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Central Bank Balance Sheet: Bitcoin’s Most Bullish Chart Ever

For a network that allows final settlement of sound money, there’s no better marketing tool than a central bank balance sheet. That’s the reason for this popular saying in the Bitcoin community: Central bank policies are Bitcoin’s ad campaign. Governments keep printing money, causing inflation, and devaluating the bills in your pocket. As long as that keeps happening, Bitcoin will become more attractive.

Related Reading | BItcoin’s Sudden Drop to $9k Coincides With Fed’s Balance Sheet Contraction

Bitcoin’s price chart might be vertical right now, but governments all over the world are printing and printing as you read these lines. 

Let’s look at the Dollar, for example:

How Does This Central Bank Balance Sheet Relate To Bitcoin?

The pink line and the yellow candles are inversely correlated. This goes hand in hand with Plan B’s infamous S2F model, Bitcoin’s supply and Bitcoin’s price are locked in so far. This speaks to digital scarcity and to the unmovable fact that there will only be 21M bitcoin. How many Dollars will there ever be? Nobody knows. But “an incredible ever-increasing amount” is a fair bet.

The blue area inside the white line is a representation of the central bank balance sheet. The steep line unnaturally pointing up that begins in 2021 corresponds to the stimulus packages in response to the COVID crisis. The already rampant money printing got to an extreme only seen in developing economies that don’t control their own destiny. 

Make no mistake, unlike other currencies, increases in the US Dollar’s money supply affect the whole world. Directly to dollarized countries like El Salvador. Indirectly to every country that uses the dollar as a reserve currency. And people from these countries don’t even get a stimulus check in the mail as a consolation prize. 

Another interesting thing about the chart is that, lately, Bitcoin’s price seems to have lost correlation to the dollar’s rampant money printing. Does that speak to a coordinated attack to sink bitcoin’s price? One could argue the point.

One could also argue the point this reader makes:

But take that last one with a grain of salt. And remember that these articles are never financial advice. Do your own research.

BTCUSD price chart for 07/13/2021 - TradingView

BTC price chart on Currency.com | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

What Can We Do To Safeguard Ourselves From Money Printing?

Governments around the world will keep printing bills and more bills, there’s not much anyone can do about that. However, you can safeguard your money from debasement by investing it in a hard asset. And what’s the hardest asset that humanity has ever created? You guessed it, it’s Bitcoin. To put this into perspective, let’s quote Saifedean Ammous’ “The Bitcoin Standard”: 

“The ratio between the stock and flow is a reliable indicator of a good’s hardness as money, and how well it is suited to playing a monetary role.”

And The Bitcoinist Book Club’s take on that quote and book:

If it’s difficult to produce new “monetary units,” that’s “hard money.” If it isn’t, then it’s “easy money.” Over time, people who use hard money will tremendously outperform people who use easy money. A constant increase in the supply will erode the purchasing power of the easy money, it’s as simple as that. The law of supply and demand never fails.

Related Reading | Central Banks’ “Free Money” is Behind Bitcoin Bull Run: Mati Greenspan

Bitcoin is “difficult to produce,” that’s one of the reasons it works. The energy it takes to produce bitcoins, and to sustain and protect the Bitcoin network, give each coin its value. Or, as  Saifedean Ammous himself put it:

And now you know why Bitcoin is so important to humanity. And why your fellow men’s purchasing power keeps decreasing over time. 

Featured Image by Christine Roy on Unsplash - Charts by TradingView