ION News Issue#1 - Internal Mailchimp Test

ION NEWS ISSUE #1
FEB 27 - MAR 12, 2019

The Lightning Network had a prolific February -- from the social media escapades to the Cambrian explosion of zApps. In March, we’re excited to follow the development of Lightning implementations and the growth of community resources.

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Trends 📈

Tippin.me, Yalls, and Satoshi’s Place are no longer the only apps that support Lightning. As more development resources are built for Lightning, projects are launching all around the Lightning ecosystem. Take a look at a few of our favorites:

1. Satoshi’s Games is a Lightning-powered arcade machine. Play Super Mario Bros, Flappy Bird, Agar, and many other games while winning some extra satoshis along the way.

2. Lightning Button is a URL auction inspired by Button.do. The winning bid gets to set the button to any URL. Anytime someone bids, the price goes up by 10 satoshis.

3. Are you a chess grandmaster? Think you can beat your friends?Lightning Chess is a Lightning-compatible implementation of the classic board game. Wager some satoshis and flex your mental muscles.

Project 💬

ln.pizza

Lightning Bitcoin. Every order made through ln.pizza is 5% off, has less than a cent of transaction fees, and is instantly settled with the typical 30 minute delivery time. Lightning Pizza is the first nationwide retail service powered by Lightning payments. Lightning Pizza is built with `throughHungry for some ‘za? Made by FoldApp, ln.pizza enables anyone in the US to order Dominos using Lightning Bitcoin.

Metrics 💯

Network connectivity continues to grow. There are 6,500 public nodes on the network, with 15% week over week growth.

Channel creation has also increased with over 1,000 new channels, increasing at a rate of 30% every day.

Total network capacity has reached another peak with over 714 BTC publically locked in the network. At the time of writing, 714 BTC is equivalent to over 2.8 million dollars.

Learn 📖

The new "HODL HTLC" feature that allows complete control over invoice acceptance is making steady progress. The first development, LND #2457, adds a `cancelinvoice` RPC to cancel an invoice that hasn’t been settled yet. The cancel invoice functionality is the first feature in a suite of many. Expect further developments (e.g. adding held invoices, settlement features) soon.

Eclair #736 adds support for both connecting to Tor hidden services (.onion) and operating as a hidden service. Learn more about Lightning with Tor and take a look at ACINQ’s docs.

A new API was merged in LND that will enable individuals to keep track of when channels are active.

A new protocol for channel backups has been merged. Soon to become mandatory for LND, it will also be supported through a variety of client-facing APIs.

Community 👥

As the Lightning Torch continues to traverse the crypto ecosystem -- nearing 250 successful passes -- track where it’s been and follow where it’s going. How far will it go? Who will end it? Only time will tell.

https://www.takethetorch.online/Torch

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