The crypto industry is arguably the most interesting and exciting technological innovation of our time. It has given birth to technological movements never seen before and has gathered and inspired a mass of individuals determined to change the world for the better.
One of the most recent movements that crypto community members are talking about is the passing of the Bitcoin Lightning Torch. As its name suggests, this consists of moving a small but emblematic amount of Bitcoin (BTC) across the globe through Bitcoin’s second-layer scaling solution, the lightning network.
The Bitcoin Lightning Torch
The Bitcoin Lightning Torch is a small but profound movement, begun on January 19, 2019 by a proponent for Bitcoin and self-described “hodl enthusiast” who goes by the Twitter handle, Hodlonaut. The movement involves the transferring of Bitcoin via the lightning network to community members thought to be trustworthy… essentially, an email chain letter.
The tweet that started this movement can be seen below.
Some LN fun..
– I send 100k sats with https://t.co/va7XSnFii0 to the first person I choose to trust that replies to this.
– That person adds 10k sats and sends 110k to someone (Either from reply to a new tweet, or this thread).. and so on
How many sats before it breaks?
— hodlonaut🌮⚡🔑 (@hodlonaut) January 19, 2019
People receiving and passing the Bitcoin Lightning Torch are typically invited to be the next torchbearer via Twitter. With each passing, the amount of money transferred increases by 10,000 satoshis and is currently at 3.2 million satoshis ($115 USD).
This movement is built on trust, and functions a social and technological experiment to test people’s trustworthiness as well as the Bitcoin lightning network.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin Lightning Torch has been passed 187 times from 178 unique users. It’s currently held by Eric Voorhees, the CEO of Shapeshift, who received the torch from Justin Sun, the founder of Tron (TRX).
Who Will Pick Up Bitcoin’s Lightning Torch Next?
There is much speculation as to who will bear the Bitcoin Lightning Torch next.
Before Voorhees received the torch, it was sent to Sun by Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had previously reached out to famous tech leader Elon Musk and Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, but received no response.
Clearly, it’s not always so easy to find the next player. However, Voorhees recently reached out to Hester Pierce, a Commissioner for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
@HesterPeirce Hey Hester, would you be open/interested in being the next recipient of the Bitcoin Lightning Torch? Very easy and quick to do, I'm happy to walk you through it if helpful. Need to know asap this morning. #LNTrustChain #bitcoin
— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) February 13, 2019
Whether Pierce will take on the torch is yet to be determined. If she fails to respond, perhaps Voorhees will cycle back to asking Musk and Buterin to take on the honor. Regardless of who steps up, it will be interesting to follow this movement to see if the Bitcoin Lightning Torch is passed along until it reaches its total capacity of 2.2 bitcoins.
If the capacity is achieved, Hodlonaut intends for the funds to be donated to BTC Venezuela, a cryptocurrency charity.
Who do you think will receive the Bitcoin Lightning Torch next? Will it ever reach it’s 2.2 BTC capacity? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
