+Rust-Lightning is a Bitcoin Lightning library written in Rust. The main crate,
+`lightning`, does not handle networking, persistence, or any other I/O. Thus,
+it is runtime-agnostic, but users must implement basic networking logic, chain
+interactions, and disk storage. More information is available in the `About`
+section.
+
+The `lightning-net-tokio` crate implements Lightning networking using the
+[Tokio](https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio) async runtime.
+
+The `lightning-persister` crate implements persistence for channel data that
+is crucial to avoiding loss of channel funds. Sample modules for persistence of
+other Rust-Lightning data is coming soon.
+
+Status
+------
+
+The project implements all of the BOLT specifications in the 1.0 spec. The
+implementation has pretty good test coverage that is expected to continue to
+improve. It is also anticipated that as developers begin using the API, the
+lessons from that will result in changes to the API, so any developer using this
+API at this stage should be prepared to embrace that. The current state is
+sufficient for a developer or project to experiment with it. Recent increased
+contribution rate to the project is expected to lead to a high quality, stable,
+production-worthy implementation in 2021.
+
+Communications for Rust-Lightning and Lightning Development Kit happens through
+[LDK slack](http://lightningdevkit.org/).
+
+About
+-----------
+LDK/Rust-Lightning is a generic library which allows you to build a lightning
+node without needing to worry about getting all of the lightning state machine,
+routing, and on-chain punishment code (and other chain interactions) exactly
+correct. Note that Rust-Lightning isn't, in itself, a node. There are various
+working/in progress demos which could be used as a node today, but if you "just"
+want a generic lightning node, you're almost certainly better off with
+`c-lightning`/`lnd` - if, on the other hand, you want to integrate lightning
+with custom features such as your own chain sync, your own key management, your
+own data storage/backup logic, etc., LDK is likely your only option. Some
+Rust-Lightning utilities such as those in `chan_utils` are also suitable for use
+in non-LN Bitcoin applications such as DLCs and bulletin boards.
+
+We are currently working on a demo node which fetches blockchain data and
+on-chain funds via Bitcoin Core RPC/REST. The individual pieces of that demo
+are/will be composable, so you can pick the off-the-shelf parts you want and
+replace the rest.