Lightning Network Popularity Could Spell Trouble for Bitcoin Cash
Like the above picture, Lightning is striking more than once. I’ll forgive you if you stop reading on principle now.
All terrible jokes aside, Lightning Network and the scaling approach it represents are taking off. We’ve heard that Bitcoin nodes are adopting and testing it in force, but the big news it that Bitcoin isn’t the only project implementing LN. Coins like Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple and others have begun to attack challenges of scale and payment costs using LN.
For a project that is famously competitive with Bitcoin such as Bitcoin Cash, this sends a very clear signal. One of the primary differences between the two similarly named projects is how each approaches scale. (I’ve explored this subject in detail before, check it out here). Bitcoin uses Lightning Network, Bitcoin Cash prefers on-chain scaling approaches, such as increasing block size to speed transactions and decrease costs.
If the crypto-building market upvotes Lightning Network over on-chain scaling, then Bitcoin Cash runs the risk of trying to sell users VCRs in an age of streaming video. Lightning Network has long been touted by the Bitcoin community as a superior approach to Bitcoin Cash’s way and it seems that the rest of the crypto universe is starting to agree.
If we start to see the likes of Roger Ver throwing shade at Lightning Network with increasing volume and regularity, we may have our answer. You can read more about increased Lightning Network adoption here, courtesy of CoinDesk.
