Coinbase adds support for Bitcoin Lightning Network

The largest American cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, has added support for the Lightning Network to its platform to enable faster and cheaper payments.

According to a blog post, Coinbase’s Lightning Network integration will reduce the cost of sending bitcoin (BTC) globally by 20 times compared to the 2% charged on credit card transactions in the US and $30 paid by wire transfer.

Coinbase integrates Lightning Network

Coinbase’s Lightning Network integration was spearheaded by Lightspark, a lightning infrastructure provider led by David Marcus, the co-founder of payments giant PayPal. The crypto exchange entered into a partnership with Lightspark earlier this month when it announced plans to move forward with Lightning integration.

The high cost and delay of traditional payment systems fueled Coinbase’s plans to improve its blockchain payment offerings. The company revealed that US consumers spent an estimated $75 billion in credit card transaction fees by 2022, and worse, most were delayed for days.

As the future of payments is crypto, Coinbase said it is committed to enabling faster, cheaper and more secure payments using blockchain technology with Lightning Network integration. Customers can now execute BTC transfers instantly, instead of the ten minutes to two hours it took to process on-chain transactions in the past.

“Coinbase is excited to continue revolutionizing the traditional payment system with crypto. Faster and cheaper access to money is critical to bridging gaps in access to financial tools, especially for underbanked and underbanked communities.

These blockchain-based innovations will unlock capital that is trapped in unnecessary fees and settlement delays, allowing consumers and businesses to do more with their money,” the firm stated.

Not available in all regions

In particular, Coinbase’s Lightning Network integration is not currently available in all regions. Information on the exchange’s help center shows that users in New York and Canada are unable to access the service at this time. Also, the cost difference between Bitcoin and Lightning Network is not applicable to all Coinbase transfers.

Meanwhile, Coinbase isn’t the only crypto exchange to add support for the Lightning Network. The world’s largest trading platform, Binance, did the same in July 2023, joining Kraken, Bitfinex and OKX.

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