By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 19th, 2024
Many prominent personalities and Bitcoin enthusiasts have recently proposed Elon Musk to take keep the fire going for the ongoing Lightning Torch experiment. Musk has yet to respond.
The Bitcoin Lightning Torch experiment is catching up more steam with every passing day. So far, the experiment has attracted over 140 participants from over 37 countries. Last week, Twiter CEO Jack Dorsey was the latest to pick it up. Currently, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, holds it.
Apparently, I hold the torch now. #LNTrustChain
I must say, it feels very cool in my virtual hand. 🙂 Who should I send it to next? https://t.co/gLyA2qmRpW
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) February 11, 2019
The Lightning Torch movement is something like this. Using the Twitter platform, people (mostly Bitcoin enthusiasts) pass on the “torch payment” by adding 10,000 satoshis worth $0.35 to the actual payment made to others. The community terms this as the “LN Trust Chain”. Also, anyone holding the torch has to send it some they trust and who will pass it further.
Elon Musk to Take Charge of Lightning Torch?
To further relay the Lightning Torch transaction, Zhao nominated Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the next contender. Dorsey as well had recommended Musk’s name to keep the torch flame going. However, Musk has maintained his silence on this matter so far.
To Zhao’s above tweet, one of his followers suggested the name of Elizabeth Stark, the co-founder of Lightning Labs. Having already held the torch earlier, Stark requested getting new people into the fold. She recommended Litecoin creator Charlie Lee.
Charlie hasn't had it yet! @SatoshiLite 🔥⚡️
— elizabeth stark 🍠 (@starkness) February 11, 2019
Being a longtime Bitcoin proponent, Charlie Lee was quite enthusiastic to have it.
I will take it off your hands since no one wants it. 😂
— Charlie Lee Ⓜ️🕸️ (@SatoshiLite) February 11, 2019
However, Binance CEO Zhao told Lee that one day he will eventually have it. But for now, he would like to tease Elon Musk some more.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1094849886552416257
It is absolutely not certain whether Musk will participate in this experiment. However, the Lightning Torch experiment has seen many successful people join the bandwagon just in three weeks since it started. Also, this is not for the first time that Musk’s name has sparked up in a Bitcoin-related activity.
Last year, a report suggested that Elon Musk could be the person behind the suspicious identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Well, looking to Musk’s superhuman skills and excellent entrepreneurial wisdom, there’s almost nothing this man can’t do.
Growing Awareness for Lightning Usage
As well all know, the Lightning network is a second-layer off-chain scalability solution for the Bitcoin blockchain. The developers behind Lightning are actively involved while focusing on its usability. Furthermore, the Lightning Network has seen exponential growth ever since its launch in early 2018.
According to the latest Lightning Network statistics by 1ML, there are currently 24,463 channels on Lightning and 6124 reachable nodes. The total payment capacity of the network stands at 655 BTC ($2.35 million). The growing numbers show a formidable growth between 14-24 percent on monthly basis.