bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has integrated bitcoin's Lightning Network, which enables faster and cheaper btc transactions for its users in the United States (with the exception of New York).
As the largest bitcoin exchange globally by users, trading volume, and asset custody, Coinbase's adoption of Lightning is a big win for the bitcoin scaling solution. Lightning enables near-instant bitcoin payments with significantly lower fees by moving transactions off-chain.
Coinbase has been working to implement Lightning support for years to further its mission of building a payments network that costs pennies per transaction. This integration finally unlocks the power of instant and affordable bitcoin payments for the exchange's huge US user base.
By partnering with Lightning infrastructure provider Lightspark, co-founded by former PayPal executive David Marcus, Coinbase now offers users the option to withdraw or send bitcoin via Lightning.
Transactions are processed in seconds and cost a fraction of on-chain btc payments.
Marcus celebrated the milestone, x.com/davidmarcus/status/1785309716635341306″>indicating “We are very excited to be part of this journey with you to bring Lightning to hundreds of millions of people in over 100 countries. A huge milestone for the entire network and for bitcoin.”
The bitcoin community has long awaited the Lightning integration of Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.
While the Lightning Network has seen impressive growth in recent years, the Coinbase integration marks the protocol's biggest leap toward broader adoption yet, expanding the network to millions of new users.
Coinbase's adoption signals faith in the network's maturity and highlights the promise of expanding Layer 2 to help bitcoin evolve into a global payment gateway.
