Blockstream Releases BTC Lightning Network Implementation Upgrade
Blockstream, which is a blockchain development company, has recently launched a new version of its very own Bitcoin scalability software called C-Lightning. The launch was announced officially through a company blog post.
Introducing C-Lightning 0.7
By essence, C-Lightning refers to the implementation of the off-chain BTC scalability solution known as the Lightning Network (LN). It is also written in the titular C programming language. According to the official announcement, the latest version (known officially as C-Lightning 0.7) is the company’s first ever major release in the past eight months. And unlike its predecessors, it is expected to bring massive performance improvements, augmented privacy, bug fixes, enhanced documentation, and a deluge of new features.
The main new feature of the aforementioned version is none other than the plugin supports, which are meant to enable developers to extend the capabilities of the software. It is worth noting that can be used in plugins that have been written in any programming language. The developers, on the other hand, hope that this could significantly contribute to the extensibility, flexibility, and even customizability of the LN implementation.
Just recently, Adam Back, the CEO and co-founder of Blockstream, joined in the LN-based Lightning Torch Bitcoin relay. Afterwards, he passed the torch to Reid Hoffman, who is former COO of PayPal and early supporter of Blockstream.
Using the Lightning Network
As previously reported sometime in January this year, the blockchain development firm called Bitfury Group unveiled a series of new tools specifically designed for developers and merchants. The decision to do so was to drive a much wider adoption of the Lightning Network.
As far as the data provided by a Bitcoin statistics site, the capacity of the BTC Lightning Network is showing some stable and noteworthy potential. According to the figures collected, it has been successful in surpassing the $2 million mark, which was initially reached in December of lasyear.
Also in the same month, a Research and Development lab positioned at the digital currency startup called TenX tested the utilization of its very own cross-blockchain interoperability protocol. This was directly used alongside the exchange’s Ethereum ERC-20 protocol tokens for the world’s leading cryptocurrency, a move that was made possible through the Lightning Network.
Although the new version comes with interesting features and quality of life improvements, the devs are still wondering about what businesses and enthusiasts will end up with the code that has just been released. However, this is a positive remark, as they believe it could lead to infinite possibilities.