It's important to flag that Lightning Network and Lightning Labs are distinct entities. While both are related to Lightning technology, they serve different purposes. The Lightning Network refers to the decentralized payment protocol itself. Meanwhile, Lightning Labs is responsible for maintaining the Lightning Network and developing the network’s technology. The Lightning Network developers created LDN, an implementation of the Lightning Network protocol. It serves as a software framework that allows developers and users to interact with the Lightning Network. And, they're the developers behind the Taproot Assets Protocol. Who Runs the Lightning Network? Lightning Network has been growing nicely even though most mainstream businesses are still yet to start accepting payment over lightning. 1ML is a great resource to fetch real-time data of the Lightning Network, which now span 0ver 20,000 nodes and more than 45,000 Lightning channels created. See a map by Blockchain Caffe showing the locations of the Lightning Network nodes. 

A profile of flamboyant BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes shows the crypto OG is not contrite after six months of house arrest. (New York Magazine) What is the Lightning Network? Does Bitcoin have any setbacks? The popularity of Bitcoin accounted for one of the top reasons for its downfall. As the network became slower and imposed the burden of high costs. Lightning Network serves as a second-layer solution to the Bitcoin Blockchain. That utilizes micropayment channels for scaling the capability of the Blockchain. The following post helps you uncover important details about Bitcoin Lightning Network with a comprehensive introductory guide.