Introduction
Lawyer and cryptocurrency supporter John Deaton has raised concerns about the Lightning Network, stating that it is less effective than the "Spend The Bits" protocol on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The Lightning Network is a layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin, designed to improve scalability and efficiency.
The Criticism
Deaton, who is an angel investor in Spend the Bits and its chief legal officer, has previously praised the protocol as a more secure alternative to Lightning on the Bitcoin blockchain. His recent disclosure coincided with a tweet from WhaleWire, an online crypto investigator, highlighting a security vulnerability in Lightning that prompted a developer to withdraw from the project.
Security Concerns
The developer claimed that deliberate vulnerabilities in the Lightning Network's code could potentially give attackers complete control over the network. These concerns have raised questions about the security and trustworthiness of Lightning, especially considering that major backers of the network are also involved in Tether, Bitfinex, and BlockStream.
Resilience and Viability
Currently, the Lightning Network can handle transactions involving 5,338 BTC, which represents only 0.025% of Bitcoin's total supply, according to 1ML. This has sparked doubts about the network's resilience and long-term viability. Additionally, the payment protocol has seen a 15% reduction in capacity over the past three months.
