Next year, Kraken will hire a dedicated team to focus on bringing the Lightning Network to its platform. This was announced by a representative of the trading platform on the air of the podcast Decrypt Daily, that is, the information has already been confirmed.
The decision is positive, since transfers within the Lightning network are significantly cheaper than regular BTC transfers.
As a reminder, the Lightning Network is a second-tier solution designed for the Bitcoin blockchain. It helps to scale the network better by taking some of the load off the main blockchain. LN consists of a system of channels that allow people to move coins without having to use the main blockchain to verify every transaction in the process. As a result, only the final result of numerous transactions is placed in the main network. This saves time and significantly reduces translation costs.
We checked the actual data: yesterday the average commission for the transfer of cryptocurrency on the Bitcoin network exceeded the equivalent of $ 5. This is almost twice as much as it was last Sunday.
At the same time, transfers on the Lightning Network are significantly smaller. And although the mechanism of commissions in LN is slightly different – they consist of basic commissions and commissions for liquidity providers – the numbers do not compare with $ 5 per transfer. Accordingly, the benefits of implementing this solution on the exchange are obvious.
Innovation at Kraken
Here is one of the quotes from an exchange representative quoted by Decrypt. In it, Kraken employees share their thoughts on this network add-on and plans.
In 2021, we intend to hire a team to focus specifically on the Lightning Network as part of our ongoing efforts to provide the best possible opportunity for traders and investors. We expect customers to be able to withdraw and deposit bitcoins in Lightning in the first half of 2021, allowing them to move their coins instantly with minimal fees.
Here, the exchange representatives noted the main advantage of the Lightning Network – the high speed of transactions and relatively low fees.
To this end, the exchange began accepting proposals from developers who «understand interfaces or UX design» or «have experience in developing the Lightning Network protocol.» The experts continue.
But simpler input and output operations are just one of the items on the list of functions that we are striving to implement. By joining the Kraken team, you developers can shape the future of programmable payments with digital money.
LN is still «off the radar» of most crypto enthusiasts and people outside the industry. This technology, in theory, will help make Bitcoin more usable for daily use and micropayments. True, for this, the Lightning Network must go through several more important stages of its development.
We checked the latest data: so far the networks are far from mass popularity. The total capacity of the Lightning Network as of yesterday is 1,086 bitcoins, which translates into approximately $ 21 million. At the same time, daily Bitcoin trades exceed $ 54 billion. This means that the indicators are very far from each other.
This news testifies to the desire of cryptocurrency exchanges to develop. Apparently, their leaders expect the popularity of the first cryptocurrency to grow among the general public, so in this case Kraken will attract new users with a lower cost of operations.
We believe the next year will be very exciting for the blockchain coin niche. In addition to new big investors in the niche, new products are also waiting for us. Moreover, ordinary users will also feel the benefits of the latter.
