Bitcoinâs Lightning Network set a record high Monday as total capacity held in the protocolâs payment channels â sometimes referred to as âtotal value lockedâ (TVL) â reached $12.4 million.
Two weeks ago, Lightning set the prior high of $12.37 million, surpassing the long-standing previous mark of $12.3 million that was reached in early July 2019 and lasted for 405 days.
Bitcoinâs price appreciation has certainly helped boost Lightningâs TVL as the bellwether cryptocurrency has gained more than 30% since July.
Total value held on Bitcoin's Lightning Network since Jan. 2018Source: Bitcoin Visuals, CoinDesk Research
The total number of bitcoins held on Lightning sits at 1,060, up 24% so far this year, but still remains below the record high of 1,105 BTC set in early May 2019.
Compared with the tens of millions of dollars pouring into Ethereum and related protocols because of the decentralized finance craze, Lightningâs growth may seem slow, but a variety of data underscores the networkâs steady increase in activity.
Total bitcoins held on the Lightning Network since Jan. 2018Source: Bitcoin Visuals, Lightning Network
The number of publicly broadcasting nodes, for example, has steadily increased throughout the entire lifetime of the protocol. Currently more than 7,600 nodes are connected to payment channels, up 55% from January.
In August, Lightningâs node count grew 26%, adding 1,581 nodes, representing the largest monthly percentage growth since April 2018 and the largest real monthly growth ever.
Lightning publicly broadcasting node count since January 2018Source: Bitcoin Visuals, CoinDesk Research
Lightning Labs, the company building the most popular implementation of Lightning, LND, further quantified the networkâs growth in a tweet shared earlier in August. Over 70 companies are currently building on LND, the company said.
