John Deaton Calls Lightning Network Inferior to XRPL’s “Spend the Bits”

Prominent legal expert and crypto advocate John Deaton has taken a swipe at the Lightning Network, describing it as inferior to the ‘Spend The Bits’ protocol on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

XRP Lawyer Takes A Dig At Lightning Network

Deaton made his preference known via Twitter on a Saturday, while declaring his involvement with ‘Spend the Bits’ as an angel investor and his new position as its Chief Legal Officer.

“[The] major reason I invested in Spend The Bits is my sincere and honest belief that it is a superior alternative to the lightning network for spending your Bitcoin,” Deaton wrote encouraging followers to consider the protocol.

Notably, this is not the first time Deaton has publicly endorsed of ‘Spend The Bits’ as an alternative to the widely recognized Lightning Network on the Bitcoin blockchain. Earlier last month, the pro-Ripple lawyer endorsed the protocol describing it as a “much better, faster, and more secure way to spend your Bitcoin than using the Lightning network.”

Why John Deaton Thinks Spend the Bits is Superior 

Interestingly, Deaton’s Saturday announcement was particularly timely, coinciding with a tweet shared by crypto sleuth ‘WhaleWire’ who highlighted a concerning development in the Lightning Network. The tweet, shared by WhaleWire, asserted that a prominent Bitcoin developer had identified a significant security risk within the Lightning Network, leading him to announce his departure from the project.

According to the tweet, the developer claimed that there were intentional backdoors in the Lightning Network’s code, potentially granting attackers full control of the network. Notably, some of the main supporters of the Lightning Network include Tether, Bitfinex, and BlockStream. This assertion prompted questions and concerns about the security and integrity of the Lightning Network.

Recently, WhaleWire highlighted that Bitcoin’s Lightning Network usage has sharply declined by an alarming 84% compared to the previous year, and its capacity has dwindled by 15% over the past three months.

Currently, the Lightning Network can facilitate transactions involving only 5,338 BTC, according to stats from ‘IML’, representing a mere 0.025% of Bitcoin’s total supply. This striking development has raised questions about the network’s robustness and sustainability. This astonishingly negative statistic is further compounded by the Layer 2 payment protocol’s capacity shrinking by around 15% over the past three or so months.