so far it is mostly enthusiasts that are running lightning nodes because it is still hard to do it in my opinion and there aren't that many places that accept LN payments. but the best thing about this kind of growth is that the more users use different LN clients the faster the bugs are found and fixed so that we can get closer to real usages of it in places like exchanges for example.

most of the balance is from bitrefill and LNBig giving out loads of free inbound balance

https://twitter.com/lnbig_com/status/1105801755265241094

https://twitter.com/lnbig_com/status/1112688601429614593
(~750 of 1000btc is related to LNBig)

Yeah, it's only a matter of time before this protocol is streamlined and used by exchanges. Lots of progress is being made, but given the complexity of the project, there's still plenty of work to do. The growth of the network is still important to look at.

a year ago i had a node by free google server.after trial time has passed, i didnt continue.can i reactiveate that node again with any server? i asked that before but nobody answered.

Setting up own node is best. You can go various lazy routes, but they either put someone else in charge of your money or your privacy (so exactly the same as regular on-chain Bitcoin)



Wrong.

Transactions on the Bitcoin network are either slow _or_ expensive, not both.

You can choose:

• cheap and slow
• fast and expensive

There is no "slow and expensive" option

Here is a Lightning Network visualization: https://1ml.com/visual/network

Notably, Sparkswap, a decentralized exchange based on the Lightning Network that will facilitate atomic swaps, is now in beta. It has reportedly secured $3.5 million in funding.

The Lightning network has promised us a lot from the very beginning. But these promises have always been carried out behind secret doors. Even today after a year later, we don't know the lightning network exactly what it is, in what state, what is going on.

for what its worth you recently changed ur prices, but vn at your now higher prices its not like a person pays500ksat and get 500ksat channel, they get 1mill sat channel
for what its worth, by opening a channel before even having a blockchain locked and confirmed tx peg is a risk
for what its worth, for LN to even allow channels to open without a pegged tx is a risk (opening a msat balance but collateral being coinbase.com data) as this shows its possible in code/technically to open channels without needing a blockchain tether AKA fractional reserving

We need the Lightning Network for faster and more efficient payments. I think credit and debit card transactions will finally be realized once the Lightning Network matures. I can't wait to see lightning fast payments with whats already in my wallet.

1. We actually lowered prices on the capacity-only Thor channels (non-Turbo), we never raised them afaik. I'm not sure what you mean.

2. You misunderstand how Turbo channels work. The risk is Bitrefill's because we are fronting the BTC in that channel

3. There is no concept of what LN "allows". Channel rules are established between the two parties that enter them, it is voluntary. That means you can agree to any rules you want. If you use rules that are different than other LN wallets or the rest of the network, you will be limited to a subnetwork of people using the same rules. Turbo channel opening requires a custom channel, but there is nothing fractional about it. It still requires unencumbered BTC to allocate the balance. It's just that Bitrefill choose to "give" our BTC instantly to you with Turbo because you have already made a separate payment to us of sufficient amount. This same concept can be used to create larger channels than the common protocol too. If we wanted, we could open a channel right now with 10BTC in it, it would just require updating the software we use to be compatible with each other. 

Don't confuse Lightning protocol with Bitcoin protocol, Lightning is real peer-to-peer interacting and channels can have any rules on top of BTC as an anchor. Nothing fractional, and nothing custodial about a Turbo channel.