Blockchain technology firm Lightning Labs, which adds value to Bitcoin’s core decentralization property, declared that it has introduced the very first alpha desktop app on Bitcoin mainnet. The desktop application utilizes Neutrino that ‘permits non-custodial Lightning wallets to check Bitcoin transactions with enhanced privacy, minimized trust, and without synchronizing the full Bitcoin blockchain.’
The announcement suggests that it is indeed a preliminary version for testers and programmers eager to tinker with the software. Programmers also caution that users shouldn’t load the app with money more than they can afford to lose. At first, the Bitcoin testnet app has already been used to trial apps with ‘fake Bitcoins.’
But now customers can use the facilities on their actual Bitcoins. The app is totally non-custodial, meaning consumers will have full command over their Bitcoins and can readily transmit them.
Created by Valentine Wallace and Tankred Hase, the app remains ‘an early targeted tester version.’ Moreover, while the launched version will work on macOS, Windows and Linux, it also points out that it is an essential step in mobile version creation.
The core developer team says:
“We’re working as quickly as we can to get our mainnet iOS and Android apps out soon.”
The effort matches privacy, security, and self-determination values. The announcement clarifies that the company must launch an easy-to-use non-custodial user alternative to create a system in accordance with those principles. The blog post is as follows:
“For that we need to go beyond custodial solutions and enthusiast guides and deliver a great user experience for everyone. Scaling Bitcoin and Lightning to everyone means not requiring people to follow complex setup processes or hand over control of their funds to trusted counterparties. For everyone to truly explore what is possible with the Lightning Network, we needed to build a wallet that knocks down these barriers-to-entry and demonstrates what is possible when technology fights for the user.”
The newly introduced system uses the Neutrino Bitcoin light client, which supposedly enables to use the LN scalability system without initially downloading the whole blockchain or transferring over funds control. Neutrino only requires downloading and confirming tens of megabytes, which can be accomplished in minutes, allowing realistic utilization on smartphones as well as other low-power systems. Lightning Labs’ unique product functionalities include background Neutrino sync, unified home screen balance, default mainnet, and enhanced autopilot function.
Now, it’s simpler for consumers to keep record of the number of Bitcoin they have on-chain or in payment channels, with the latter being delimited by a percentage below the cumulative balance. They can also search the number of Satoshis that are on each channel with the channel page of the app. But the major upgrade is wallet’s use of Neutrino.
Tankred Hase, lead application engineer at Lightning Labs, said:
“Without Neutrino, a non-custodial solution required using the command line interface, setting up your own Bitcoin + Lightning full node and the configuring of a third-party app to connect remotely to your node. That process was very technical and required way too many steps for average users. Neutrino allows us to bundle everything up into one app that users can open with a double click.”
Furthermore, Hase observed there’s still a lot of stuff going on as the innovation is rather young and tricky.
Hase said:
“It’s still the very first release and now is the time to iterate and start learning.”
Lightning Labs plans to incorporate Lightning Loop in the immediate future, which will allow customers to collect Bitcoin in rising amounts without having to shut and open up new payment channels. Alpha launch of Lightning Loop happened in March. Previously, Lightning Labs introduced its Lightning Network Daemon (LND) beta software.
Notably, tech company Moon is preparing to launch a web browser extension that enables e-commerce customers to use their LN bitcoin wallets to buy on e-commerce sites such as Amazon. Also, reports surfaced at the beginning of a new month that US-based tech company Sparkswap finished a profitable seed funding round to develop a decentralized exchange centered on bitcoin LN.
