The CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, recently announced that his company has successfully integrated the Bitcoin Lightning Network into its corporate email system. This network is a second-layer solution that enables fast and cost-effective Bitcoin transactions.
Advantages of the Lightning Network
By integrating the Lightning Network into their email system, MicroStrategy employees can now send and receive Bitcoin payments instantly and at a lower cost. This move is in line with MicroStrategy’s broader strategy of integrating Bitcoin into its financial framework and treating it as a part of its corporate treasury.
Saylor, a strong advocate of Bitcoin, has effectively utilized Microstrategy’s resources to invest in cryptocurrency. The company has been actively procuring Bitcoin since August 2020, and currently holds over 140,000 BTC, with a value of more than $4.1 billion at prevailing market rates.
By incorporating the Lightning Network into its email platform, MicroStrategy has taken a significant step toward Bitcoin’s widespread adoption. In recent years, the Lightning Network has gained traction as a means of expediting and reducing the cost of Bitcoin transactions. The integration of the Lightning Network into MicroStrategy’s email system will simplify and streamline the use of Bitcoin for day-to-day transactions by its employees.
Adoption of Lightning Network
The Lightning Network, which serves as Bitcoin’s layer-2 scaling solution, has been widely recognized for its impressive capacity to process up to a million transactions per second. However, according to recent data published by Bitcoin Visuals, there has been a decline of 6.5% in the number of Lightning Network channels this year.
While the total channels peaked at approximately 88,000 in March 2022, they have since dropped to around 79,000 as of April 2023. Furthermore, the number of Lightning nodes surpassed 20,000 in March 2022 but presently stands at around 18,000.
As per the data provided by Bitcoin Visuals, the Lightning Network’s current capacity stands at 5,490 BTC, which translates to approximately $165 million. This metric has achieved an all-time high in terms of BTC, registering a remarkable 50% surge over the last 12 months. The data suggest a favorable trend, indicating that more BTC is being directed toward the payments network.
