Lightning Torch
This community run project derives its name from the well-known Olympic Torch. This long-standing tradition sees a series of runners hand off a literal torch, culminating in the lighting of the Olympic Flame.
Rather than a flame being passed between runners, the Lightning Torch sees a lump sum of money being passed from one Lightning Network participant to the next.
The purpose of this is to demonstrate to the world, the amount of progress made on the technology. This endeavour hopes to show the viability and benefits of Lightning Network implementation.
Where did it Start?
The Lightning torch started only recently, in January, 2019. It was a novel idea, which was kicked off by twitter user, Hodlonaut.
There is no clear finish to this project. The goal is to bring awareness, and support the adoption of the protocol as industry standard. This may happen in a few months, years, or even decades.
Who has participated?
The concept behind the Lightning Torch has piqued the interest of many, including various major industry players. Here are a couple of note that believe in the future of Lightning Network, and have taken part in the relay.
Jack Dorsey – The 42yr old billionaire founder of Twitter, and Square
Fidelity Investments – A 73yr old financial services company, which manages $2.46 trillion in assets
Reid Hoffman – The 51yr old billionaire founder of LinkedIn
How many participants so far?
Beyond the names listed above, many have participated. To date, those that have participated include individuals spanning nearly every continent, and scores of countries. With each participant adding funds to the pot, before passing it on, the sum of money has grown to over $140.
What does it mean for Bitcoin?
The entire purpose of the Lightning Network is to address both the scalability of Bitcoin, and its privacy. It has the potential to transform the world’s largest cryptocurrency from simply a store of value, to a viable currency.
To learn more about the intricacies of the Lightning Network, check out the ‘Lightning Network 101’ article below.
What does this mean for Litecoin?
Further stressing the important of the development of the Lightning Network, is the technology’s ability to affect not only BTC, but Litecoin and various other cryptocurrencies as well.
With Litecoin originating as an offshoot of BTC, it is no surprise that the 6th largest cryptocurrency can benefit from the same technological upgrades. With this in mind, those behind the on-going development of the Lightning Network have ensured interoperability between both coins. By ensuring interoperability, the idea of atomic-swaps now comes into play. By implementing atomic swaps, each coin can now benefit from even greater flexibility and liquidity.
Eventual adoption
What this experiment has shown the world is that the Lightning Network indeed holds the potential to deliver on its longstanding promises. As the Lightning Torch continues to be passed throughout the world, its size and importance will only grow – helping BTC to eventually achieve mainstream adoption.
