Executive chairman of Microstrategy, Michael Saylor, does not like to be called out. He responded to a poll shared by Eric Wall, a crypto researcher, that suggested he had not used Bitcoin’s (BTC) layer-2 Lightning Network more than three times with a Twitter poll of his own.
The correct answer is Yes, and I will make three more transactions of 1,000,000 sats each to the 3 posters of the most liked #Lightning⚡️ memes in the comments below. https://t.co/qXZ90q4Ly9
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) October 4, 2022
Saylor replied to the poll with a resounding yes, and kickstarted a meme competition with a 1,000,000 sats giveaway (0.01 Bitcoin, $200) to the most liked meme. In giving away Sats to prizewinners, Saylor will literally use the Lightning Network three times.
Saylor first tweeted about the Lightning Network in May 2021, and has since become a proponent for the layer-2 payments solution built on Bitcoin, as well as LiFi, or Lightning Finance. Wall, a former chief investment officer at Arcane Research, has called out Saylor several times, and his initial optimism about the Lightning Network in 2018 has dissolved into critiques.
Other prominent Bifluencers, including Udi Wertheimer and Lilli, head of business development at Foundation Devices, regularly knock the LN. Lilli recently called the network a “failure,” and Udi said, “Nobody uses it.”
The poll as well as recent commentary from Wall bring into focus a bigger issue. Is the Lightning Network a fringe solution to Bitcoin’s scalability problem that even the biggest names in the Bitcoin space struggle to use? Or, is the Lightning Network — following eight years of development — a failure?
Related: Busking on Bitcoin: How Lightning Network outperforms Ethereum for tipping
Wall shared a series of videos highlighting difficulties in transferring funds over the LN from old Bitcoin wallets to a new phone. He also predicted that Bitcoin capacity on the LN will not exceed 6,000 Bitcoin before 2023. Bitcoin network capacity surged through 4,000 BTC in June and 5,000 BTC in October. With two months to go until year-end, Wall tweeted it’s “gonna be a nail-biter.”
Perhaps major companies entering the space will bolster LN usage and improve sentiment. Saylor is doubling down again on his Bitcoin strategy, as Microstrategy is hiring Lightning developers. Furthermore, NYDIG, a leading Bitcoin company, announced in their Q3 report that “Now it’s time for Lightning,” stating their…
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