bitcoin Lightning Networks Starts 2019 Off Strong
Although the market has barely budged since New Year’s Day, save for Sunday’s surge, ’s fundamentals have continued to outperform, starting off 2019 with a proverbial bang. Case in point, per data from analytics provider 1ML, routed through trader Ride The Lightning, the capacity of the Lightning Network is up 23% in the past month.
For those who missed the memo, the is a second-layer scaling solution that facilitates low-cost, near-instant, scalable, and secure transactions. The scaling solution can now facilitate 557.58 ($2.265 million U.S. at current prices) worth of transactions at maximum capacity — not a small sum to say the least.
Lightning Network capacity continues to grow.
— RideTheLightning⚡️ (@MediumSqueeze)
This recent development comes just two weeks after the network, backed by the development consortium that is Blockstream, passed the 500 milestone. So, it seems that not only has growth continued, but it seems to be accelerating, even amid bearish conditions in the broader market.
And frankly, the Lightning Network isn’t any old show pony. Just recently, pseudonymous -friendly artist CryptoGraffiti of a Black Swan made of U.S. dollars — likely an innocuous jab at the centralized financial world and ’s potential to usurp that — on the Lightning Network for $0.000000040.
However, this isn’t the only piece of fundamental news that proponents should be celebrating. As reported by , statistics compiled by Jameson Lopp, the technology officer at Casa and a leading Bitcoiner, have accentuated the fact that while the value of the flagship fell from $16,000 on January 1st to $3,150 on December 14th, the itself and its surrounding ecosystem saw monumental levels of growth.
More specifically, the /r/ saw in members, while ’s market dominance made a resurgence from all-time lows at 32.5% to a yearly high of ~58%. Hashrate even doubled, contrary to the harrowing reports from mainstream media.
Long story short, is doing better than ever, in spite of falling prices.
Bloomberg: BTC “Technical Gauge Turns Positive”
Short-term technicals have also painted a positive picture for . Per reports from , after surged past $4,000 for the first time since Christmas Eve/Christmas, technicals have begun to turn positive for the asset.
The Directional Movement Index, which tracks market trends, has crossed into a positive zone for the first time since mid-November, “ending ’s ‘very strong’ selling streak.” Pickert claimed that the asset could be entering a new “positive buying phase,” which could catalyze a run-off rally in the near future. Mati Greenspan, the in-house crypto expert at eToro’s office, echoed this bullish sentiment, telling Bloomberg:
In technical analysis this makes these levels very strong… But I think only once we see a strong break above 5,000, 6,000, if we get above 7,500, that’s when people start to turn really bullish.
This isn’t the only positive measure for that Bloomberg has recently drawn attention to. Per our previous , the outlet claimed that the GTI Vera Convergence Divergence indicator is suggesting has entered its “longest buying streak in six months.” In terms of industry fundamentals, have claimed that ’s Financial Services Agency is looking to approve crypto-backed ETFs, which may spark and push this market higher over the long haul.
Title Image Courtesy of on
Published at Tue, 08 Jan 2019 00:02:15 +0000
Figure 1: BTC-USD, 4-Hour Candles, Bitfinex, Macro Trend
Figure 2: BTC-USD, 4-Hour Candles, Bitfinex, Bullish Exhaustion
Figure 3: BTC-USD, 1-Week Candles, Bitfinex, Macro Bullish Exhaustion