Crypto Network Growth Jumps 1,200% in 2 Years

Crypto Market Now Sees 1,212% Growth in Two Years

Data from the Bitcoin (BTC)-only exchange River reveals that the crypto market’s layer 2 Lightning Network has experienced an estimated 1,212% growth over the last two years, with around 6.6 million routed transactions in August. This is a notable jump from August 2021’s 503,000 transitions, despite a 44% fall in Bitcoin’s price and a decrease in online search interest.

River research analyst Sam Wouters noted this impressive growth in routed transactions — which use more than two nodes to facilitate a transfer — and commented on the now-outdated meme “Nobody is using Lightning”.

River’s 6.6 million figure for Lightning routed transactions is a lower-bound estimate. The firm also sourced August 2021’s 503,000 figure from a 2021 study by K33, formerly Arcane Research, and added that it could not assess private Lightning transactions or those between only two participants.

Crypto Market Now

In August 2023, the crypto market now saw $78.2 million in transaction volume, a 546% increase from the $12.1 million recorded in August 2021, according to K33. Lightning, a crypto network, is now processing at least 47% of Bitcoin’s on-chain transactions, according to Lightning’s creator, Wouters. “This will be an interesting metric to monitor,” he added. “It is an indicator of Bitcoin becoming more of a medium of exchange.”

The average Lightning transaction size in August 2023 was around 44,700 satoshis or $11.84. River estimated that between 279,000 and 1.1 million Lightning users were active in September. Crypto media, such as gaming, social media tipping and streaming, accounted for 27% of the transaction growth.

River reported that the success rate of Lightning payments on its platform in August 2023 was 99.7% across 308,000 transactions. The main cause of failure is when there is not enough liquidity in the crypto market now to complete the transfer.

The data set River used for analysis included 2.5 million transactions. The nodes in this set accounted for 29% of the capacity on the crypto network and 10% of payment channels on Twitter.