Electrum to incorporate Lighting Network in its new release

• Lightning Network is a second layer protocol for Bitcoin payments.
• Electrum confirmed that the implementation will be based on Python.

Electrum, a leading Bitcoin wallet platform, recently announced that it will add support to Lightning Network in its new release. The platform stated that it will incorporate its lightning node with the master branch. It will do so without the need for any third-party applications.  

Lightning Network is a second layer protocol for Bitcoin payments. It first introduced in 2016 to increase the scalability of the original blockchain network by drawing apart transactions from the main blockchain. It was initially created to handle micro day-to-day payments. The protocol also curtails the transaction fees to a great extent.  

Electrum confirmed that the implementation will be based on Python, a popular programming language, and was developed in-house. Despite garnering a lot of attention, many programmers reported bugs on the network. Finance magnates previously reported that Rusty Russell, one of the authors of Lightning protocols specification, had discovered a major Lightning Network vulnerability on a Bitcoin Wallet called Eclair.

Electrum was developed in 2011 and is one of the first Bitcoin wallets which is widely used. Since then, the developers released many versions, adding more features. The platform’s official site has requested the users to update their wallets to the latest version to avoid probable phishing attacks. Bitfinex was also planning to launch Tether on the Lightning Network. On the other hand, blockchain startup ACINQ raised $8 million in a Series A round earlier this year to develop Lightning Network-based products.