For now Bitcoin Lightning Network is needed

How environmentally friendly is bitcoin? That discussion has now made a comeback since Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company no longer accepts bitcoins as a means of payment.

Musk still wants to contribute to this discussion, he took to Twitter in conversation with the bitcoin community about bitcoin’s energy consumption.

Better report energy consumption

The discussion started when Brett Winton of Ark Investments showed that bitcoin and sustainability can go hand in hand:

“Earlier we showed how bitcoin mining can economically scale up solar energy and battery systems to provide a larger share of the grid energy.”

Elon Musk partially agreed:

“I agree that this * can * happen over time, but the recent energy consumption [van bitcoin] is growing so fast that not all of this can be matched with renewable energy sources. This question is easily resolved if the top 10 hashing organizations simply publish verified figures on renewable energy and non-renewable energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6kyTVR9SWg

Second layer is needed for the time being

Twitterer Tesla in the Gong responded, “These massive organizations are taking away the goal of decentralization. A real cryptocurrency for the people is needed. ”

Elon Musk responded:

“Achieving truly decentralized finance – power to the people – is a noble and important goal. Whether this can all be done on one layer depends on the growth of bandwidth and computer power, both of which are increasing rapidly. ”

But Musk is positive about the future:

“In the future, all transactions can be processed on one layer. But for now the Lightning Network is needed. ”

What is the Lightning Network?

It Lightning Network can be seen as a kind of second layer over the bitcoin blockchain, bitcoin’s transaction network. Transactions over the Lightning Network do not need to be processed on the blockchain. This allows you to send bitcoins directly with minimal transaction costs.

The Lightning Network has been around since 2018, and has been growing steadily ever since. The network currently has a capacity of approximately 1,330 bitcoins, worth $ 52.9 million (€ 43.3 million).

That is a pittance compared to the total market value of bitcoin now. All bitcoins together are now worth 744 billion dollars, or 609 million euros.

Can the Lightning Network still grow? In the first years, this payment network was still a technical story. But nowadays you have more and more user-friendly apps, such as Breez. More and more crypto exchanges are also using the network, such as OKEx and Kraken. Who knows, the discussion with Elon Musk may cause the Lightning Network to become more popular.

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