Lightning Network development, mainnet launch, and early adoption (2015–2020)

1. Lightning scaling idea formalized in Poon–Dryja paper

   Jan 14, 2016Labels: Poon, Dryja, Lightning paper

   • Nakamoto Inst
   • Wired

2. SegWit activates, enabling key Lightning primitives

   Aug 24, 2017Labels: SegWit, Bitcoin

   • SegWit Wiki
   • Bitcoin Wiki

3. BOLT specs near completion, pushing interoperability

   Aug 25, 2017Labels: BOLT, Lightning specifications

   • CoinDesk
   • BOLTs Repo

4. First widely noted real mainnet Lightning purchase

   Dec 28, 2017Labels: Bitrefill, mainnet payment

   • AboutBitcoin
   • Wired

5. Lightning Labs releases lnd 0.4-beta for mainnet

   Mar 15, 2018Labels: Lightning Labs, lnd 0

   • Lightning Labs
   • CoinDesk

6. ACINQ releases Eclair beta with mainnet support

   Mar 28, 2018Labels: ACINQ, Eclair

   • Bitcoin fr
   • BTC Mag

7. Blockstream announces c-lightning 0.6; all three beta

   Jun 25, 2018Labels: Blockstream, c-lightning

   • Blockstream
   • Blockstream 2018

8. Lightning Labs ships redesigned Lightning App for testnet

   Sep 10, 2018Labels: Lightning Labs, Lightning App

   • Lightning Labs
   • BIP158

9. Lightning Torch trust-chain experiment begins

   Jan 19, 2019Labels: Lightning Torch, community experiment

   • Torch Wiki
   • BTC Mag

10. Lightning BOLT specification tagged v1.0

    Feb 18, 2019Labels: BOLT v1, specification

    • BOLTs Tags
    • BOLTs Repo

11. Lightning Labs releases Lightning Loop to manage liquidity

    Mar 20, 2019Labels: Lightning Loop, Lightning Labs

    • Lightning Labs
    • Lightning Labs

12. Lightning Labs launches desktop Lightning App on mainnet

    Apr 23, 2019Labels: Lightning App, desktop mainnet

    • CoinDesk
    • Lightning Labs

13. Lightning Labs releases mobile Lightning App on mainnet

    Jun 19, 2019Labels: Lightning App, mobile

    • Lightning Labs
    • Lightning Labs

14. BitMEX Research documents channel closures and usage

    Jan 13, 2020Labels: BitMEX Research

    • BitMEX Research
    • BOLTs Repo