Move Over, Ethereum – Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Has Apps, Too

August 8, 2022 World Blockchain

While market analysts have been panicking about crypto winter, Bitcoin developers have been quietly building more apps. According to a report by Arcane Research, the Lightning Network in particular has developed a diverse ecosystem of over 100 apps across at least 20 categories.

Earlier this year, Lightning’s user base shot through the roof when Block (SQ) integrated Lightning into its popular Cash App, which has over 70 million users. Just a few months before that, in September 2021, Bitcoin marketplace Paxful had integrated Lightning into its wallet and El Salvador’s government had launched the Lighting-compatible Chivo bitcoin (BTC) wallet. Paxful has a user base of roughly 7 million and Chivo is used by 3 million to 4 million Salvadorans (although Chivo usage has noticeably dropped since the wallet’s launch).