Bitcoin Lightning Network Developer Resigns Over Security Fears

A key developer of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network stepped down from his role upon discovering a critical security vulnerability of the scaling solution.

On October 20, Antoine Riard, a key Lightning Network developer, announced his decision to depart from the project because he discovered a critical vulnerability.

Lightning Network Vulnerability

According to Riard, the network was vulnerable to replacement cycling attacks, which could allow malicious actors to siphon funds from users by exploiting inconsistencies within individual mempools.

Riard noted that while basic mitigations could thwart simple attacks, it would not be able to deter advanced attackers.

Consequently, he emphasized implementing comprehensive changes at the network’s foundational level to enhance transparency and security.

“Those types of changes are the ones necessitating the utmost transparency and buy-in of the community as a whole, as we’re altering the full-nodes processing requirements or the security architecture of the decentralized bitcoin ecosystem in its integrality.” 

Riard also indicated his intention to return by October 30 to address another issue on the public mailing list. Furthermore, he disclosed that his focus would shift towards core Bitcoin development during this time.

Adoption Soars

The Lightning Network is built on Bitcoin as a ‘layer 2’ payment protocol. It facilitates faster and more cost-effective transactions between nodes to address Bitcoin’s scalability challenges.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that the total number of BTC locked on this solution had grown over the past year to a high of more than 5,600 BTC in June. The TVL has fallen to 5316 BTC as of press time.

A report from River reveals that the Lightning Network routed around 6.6 million transactions in August 2023, marking a 1,212% increase from the estimated 503k transactions in August 2021.

Major cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance have adopted this solution.

Pro-XRP Lawyer Questions Bitcoin Lightning Network

Meanwhile, a prominent pro-XRP lawyer, John Deaton, criticized the Bitcoin Lightning Network while comparing it unfavorably to another protocol on the XRP Ledger.

Deaton argued that XRP’s SpendTheBits protocol is a superior alternative to the Lightning Network. His perspective, however, might be influenced by his role as an angel investor and Chief Legal Officer in SpendTheBits.