BitPay is excited to announce that starting today, we support Lightning Network payments. In addition to offering easy and secure crypto payment processing, our merchants and their customers now have access to cheaper and more scalable Bitcoin payments.
Tony Gallipi, BitPay’s Co-Founder, announced the launch at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami. “BitPay’s integration with the Lightning Network offers customers more choice and merchants more ways to be paid leveraging blockchain technology.”
As a result of the integration, BitPay merchants and their customers will be able to complete cost-effective bitcoin transactions with lower fees. The combination of payments made through the main Bitcoin blockchain and through Lightning Network result in an overall better payment experience that is fast, low cost and scalable.
Payments can be made through Lightning Network supported wallets like Strike, Cash App and others. No additional setup or configuration is necessary for BitPay merchants to accept Lightning payments.
What is Lightning Network?
The Lightning Network is a secondary layer of the blockchain which enables scalable transactions with low fees. It was created to improve the cost and scalability of Bitcoin transactions. Merchants and their customers can make “off-chain” transactions without congesting the main blockchain, while still receiving the same security and convenience of Bitcoin payments.
Benefits of Lightning Network
BitPay’s integration with the Lightning Network allows our merchants and users to utilize Bitcoin more efficiently as digital cash with cheap and scalable payments.
Fast transactions
Performing smaller transactions on the Lightning Network reduces congestion on the main blockchain, speeding up transactions across the board.
Low transaction fees
Fees on the Lightning Network are typically a fraction of a cent. For merchants, this means more customers spending crypto. For customers, this means that paying with crypto is as efficient as any other payment method. Additionally, micropayments become economical with the Lightning Network.
Scalability
Lightning Network can process hundreds of thousands more transactions per second than the main Bitcoin blockchain.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lightning Network
What coins are supported by Lightning Network?
BitPay’s support of Lightning Network extends to only Bitcoin transactions.
I am a merchant, how do I receive/accept Lightning Network payments?
Your customers will have the option to choose Lightning Network payment when an invoice is generated. You don’t need to do anything additional on your end to start accepting payments on the Lightning Network.
I am a customer, how do I pay with the Lightning Network?
Once an invoice is generated, you will have the option to select your Lightning supported wallet. You can find a list of Lightning wallets we currently support here.
