BitPay Adds Support for Lightning Network Payments
One of the largest Bitcoin payment processors now supports Lightning payments.
Key Takeaways
- BitPay has added support for the Lightning Network, allowing merchants to accept Bitcoin payments in this way.
- This integration will reduce Bitcoin transaction fees below one cent and increase the speed of transactions.
- BitPay is one of the largest cryptocurrency payment processors, with reported volumes of $1 billion annually.
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BitPay has added support for the Lightning Network, a Layer 2 scaling solution for the Bitcoin blockchain.
BitPay Adds Lightning Support
BitPay co-founder Tony Gallippi announced the integration of Lightning Network at this week’s Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.
According to a press release from the company, merchants that use BitPay can now receive payments from Lightning-enabled wallets such as Cash App and Strike, plus over 100 other wallets.
Though the Lightning Network supports both Bitcoin and Litecoin, BitPay says that it will only support Bitcoin at this time.
Merchants will not need to take any additional steps to configure support for the Lightning Network. Customers will see the option to pay with a Lightning-enabled wallet when they make a purchase.
The Lightning Network settles Bitcoin transactions off-chain, meaning that it reduces fees and improves transaction times. BitPay noted that fees on the Lightning Network are typically under one cent (whereas Bitcoin’s average transaction fee is currently $1.72).
PacSun, a California clothing and footwear company, will be one of the first companies to support BitPay Lightning payments.
Other Platforms Support Lightning
BitPay claims to be the largest crypto payment processor. Reports suggest that it handles $1 billion in transactions per year.
This makes it one of the highest-volume platforms to integrate Lightning to date, though various other payment processors have integrated Lightning Network in previous months and years.
Coingate was one of the first payment processors to add Lightning Network in 2018. Swiss processor Bitcoin Suisse also integrated the technology in 2021, while Jack Dorsey’s Cash App announced the addition of Lightning Network in January 2022.
Other companies have also added support for Lightning Network, including Twitter, Substack, Chainalysis, Bitfinex, and Kraken.
Today’s news comes just one day after Lightning Labs announced a new protocol called Taro to bring stablecoins to Lightning.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
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