49% of the Bitcoin [BTC] Lightning Network is occupied by one node
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According to 1ml, Andreas Brekken, the CEO of Shitcoin.com occupies 49% of the Bitcoin [BTC] Lightning Network. Shitcoin has over 35 BTC on the Lightning Network and the portal has announced that this is for an upcoming review on the Lightning Network. Lightning Network node for Shitcoin || Source: 1ml
Andreas Brekken was the former Advisor at Kraken and Bitcoin.com.
He has been a part of the Bitcoin community since 2011 and his website shitcoin.com is solely for criticizing crypto-projects. It also includes reviews of tokens such as Tron [TRX], EOS [EOS], IOTA [MIOTA].
The Bitcoin Lightning Network is a second layer payment protocol on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. It is a solution for the Bitcoin scalability issues. It allows 2 nodes to make an unlimited amount of transactions off the Bitcoin blockchain. The transactions are recorded on the blockchain only when the node channel is closed.
The key features of the Lightning Network include instant payments, scalability, low cost and cross-chain atomic swaps.
An increase in the number of nodes on the Lightning Network results in an increase of the network’s capacity, as seen by the capacity doubling since 1st July 2018.
The current statistics of the Lightning Network are: Number of Nodes: 2755 Network Capacity: 72.29 BTC Nodes with active channels: 2024
Out of the total network capacity, Shitcoin’s node holds 35 BTC leading it to occupy more than 48% of the total capacity of Lightning Network.
The other node holds approximately 1% of the total capacity. This results in the nodes occupying 49% of the total capacity making it the largest amount of Bitcoin on the Lightning Network. Leading Bitcoin Lightning Network || Source: 1ML Alias: Shitcoin.com [Andreas Brekken] Capacity: Bitcoin [BTC] held by the node Min HTLC [Hash Time-locked Contracts]: Minimum block height Base Fee: The fees to open the channel Fee Rate: The rate of the fees to open the channel
Moreover, Andreas has been continuously showing his interest in the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
When questioned on his Lightning Network node on Twitter, he responded by saying that he was surprised no one noticed the nodes’ color choice.
Cyborgene, a Redditor says:
“I don’t think it’s one guy. Probably a company or a few miners together trying to grow their lightning channels capacity and become a medium. By the way, I am also setting up my Lighting Node”
Uvas, another Redditor says:
“Yes, I am very curious about what he has planned.
My guess is that he is just going to shut them all down at once and see what happens.”
Some Redditors even argue that it could be a 51% attack but it does not apply here as the Lightning Network has no mining power.
Owlholic, a Redditor says:
“Well. True and not.
It’s not the mining 51% attack but likely there is some downside of one player owning over half. Otherwise they wouldn’t do it!”
Since 49% of the Lightning Network is occupied by Brekken, only 51% of the Lightning Network is left for the other users. Unless there are more nodes added to the network, it might hamper the overall usability of the network. .
