A Measurement Study of Bitcoin Lightning Network

As a promising method to enable fast and scalable Bitcoin transactions, Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) has experienced rapid development since the end of 2017. LN utilizes the so-called "payment channels" to provide fast off-chain transactions, thereby offloading on-chain burden and enabling instant payments. With many new protocols proposed to improve the performance of LN, little is known about the current state of the network such as its topology, channel characteristics and application performance. In this paper, we conduct a systematic measurement on LN based on the data collected over a period of fifteen months. This measurement allows us to draw a network graph to study the payment routing success rate and the level of decentralization. We also analyze payment channels regarding their functions. Our work provides an in-depth understanding of network mechanisms and helps to explore future implications of LN.

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