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Elon Musk says lightning network ‘needed’ to scale Bitcoin for now

Elon Musk says lightning network ‘needed’ to scale Bitcoin for now
CoinDesk Analysis TeamCoinDesk Analysis TeamCoinDesk

Elon Musk has jumped into the bitcoin (BTC, +1.27%) scaling debate on Twitter, saying that the layer-2 payments network Lightning is “needed” for now.

  • "Layer count depends on projected bandwidth & compute, both rising rapidly, which means single layer network [e.g. Bitcoin alone] can carry all human transactions in future imo," the Tesla CEO tweeted Friday.

  • Until then, however, Lightning will be necessary to provide the required bandwidth, he argued.

  • The Lightning network is a layer atop the Bitcoin blockchain designed to enable faster and cheaper transactions by enabling user-generated channels for sending and receiving payments.

  • Musk has also been responding to a Twitter discussion about bitcoin's energy usage, the reason cited for Tesla's recent U-turn on accepting the cryptocurrency as a method of payment.

  • He proposed that the top-10 mining organisations post audits of the amount of renewable energy used in their operations as one way to tackle the issue.

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CoinDesk Analysis Team

CoinDesk is the media platform for the next generation of investors exploring how cryptocurrencies and digital assets are contributing to the evolution of the global financial system.

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