Out of Testnet and Into Alpha: Lightning Labs’ Desktop Application Is Live

Lightning Labs just released an alpha version of its Lightning Network wallet. The desktop application is now compatible with Bitcoin’s mainnet and it leverages Neutrino (the protocol, not the analytics company acquired by Coinbase) to give users a lightweight option to “control their own funds,” as opposed to running a full node or trusting a third party to play custodian.“This release required a diverse skill set of protocol engineering, product development and design thinking,” Tankred Hase, a Lightning Labs application developer, told Bitcoin Magazine. “I’m lucky enough to work with such a talented team at Lightning Labs where we can bring all those perspectives together. I’m hoping this release makes Bitcoin and Lightning more accessible to new types of users.”The release, which Lightning Labs says in a blog post “is still an early version targeted at testers,” is immediately available for macOS, Windows and Linux, while smartphone applications for Android and iOS “are coming very soon,” Hase told us.Hase also said that the Android app is still in development internally and the iOS iteration is “available publicly in pre-alpha in TestFlight.” He added that the company needs to “polish Lightning Network Daemon/Neutrino stability and performance” before the full releases.For the desktop application, v0.5.0-alpha will launch on Bitcoin’s mainnet by default, while prior versions will now allow users to automatically update ...