Thread by @marcrjandrew

Do you believe Bitcoin will be the internet’s dominant currency? Then you need to know about Lightning Service Providers...

LSP's will make it possible to onboard billions to Bitcoin over the next decade.

The Lightning Economy is launching! Here’s what you need to know:

🧵👇

First, full credit to @therealkingonly who coined the term Lightning Service Provider almost three years ago. Roy has shaped this space and could see well ahead of the curve.

Start this off with reading his intro to LSPs here:

medium.com/breez-technolo…

LSP’s will prove as essential to Bitcoin’s monetary network as Internet Service Providers have been to the web.

Bitcoin is TCP/IP. Lightning is HTTP.

In other words, LN is the emerging value and trust layer of the internet.

And if that makes you feel bullish… it should!

A word on skepticism...

LN's critics argue it’s already been around 6 years, and doesn’t rival DeFi alternatives.

The answer is the protocol. It's an era of protocol innovation, and Bitcoin has established itself as the web’s value layer.

That makes Lightning inevitable.

Lightning is so exciting because now is literally the time when services and apps are taking shape that can scale to billions.

Ever wish you could've been there in the Valley's early days, or around in the 90’s through the launch of the web?

Now is that time in Lightning.

The best evidence is the thousands of people who’ve built Lightning into a viable global, instant monetary layer - purely as hobbyists!

The vast majority of people running nodes are doing it as a passion. It’s not simple and it’s growing exponentially.

Wait til LN simplifies..

Which gets us to Lightning Service Providers. As ISP's did for the web, LSP's will scale Lightning.

An LSP:

⚡️Provides liquidity to the network
⚡️Supports nodes with new channels
⚡️Routes data and payments
⚡️Rebalances channels among users
⚡️Drives reliability and redundancy

Who are examples of LSP’s?

@therealkingonly, mentioned earlier, has built @Breez_Tech.

The most focused (and only publicly traded) LSP is @LQwDFinTech, led by @shoneanstey.

Note their release this week of nodes focused on Singapore and Frankfurt:

lqwdfintech.com/news/2022/lqwd…

There are many, many other firms and individuals who can be considered LSP's, because they're building the services that can scale the Lightning Network, like @lnbig_com, @bitrefill, @BTC_LN, @Voltage…

Please share others!

And also super fresh off the block from @JohnCantrell97 is Sensei.

I’m not sure if John would consider it an LSP, but its mission is to onboard billions to Lightning, so it counts!

Check it out:

l2.technology/sensei

And of course there are important groups building tools to manage and monitor Lightning nodes, like
@lightning, @blockstream, @acinq_co, @lightningdevkit...

Gotten this far, and interested in getting a Lightning node going for yourself? This thread from @purugyl is amazing and the best practical intro to Lightning I've seen.

And all of @BTCsessions's info is first-rate for your journey.

https://twitter.com/purugyl/status/1444085548038049792?s=20&t=2drJzt4NZfmhkduzMoMZWA

Hopefully this provides a glimpse into the potential of this space.

I believe that the Lighting Network is the dawn of an entirely new digital value protocol, with huge value to be created over the next 5-10 years.

Please share any other examples of LSPs, or what you think!