Bitcoin's Lightning Network Faces Growing Pains as Developer and User Support Wanes

Lightning Network, intended as Bitcoin's scaling solution, is losing developer and community support due to complaints about complexity, fragility, limitations.

Longtime champions of Lightning are backing away, citing exaggerated early claims, privacy issues, channel risks, fail rates.

Metrics are confusing node and connection counts down but transactions up; BTC capacity declining in coins but doubling in dollars.

High profile Bitcoin developers calling Lightning overhyped, a "joke"; lead researchers leaving project.

Valid complaints but context important Lightning launched as "experimental", warnings it was #reckless to use, never intended to solve all scaling needs.