Twitter has begun introducing the Lightning Network-enabled Bitcoin payments feature on its platform. This is part of the company’s strategy to reward content creators in cryptocurrency.
The main digital asset was not chosen by chance: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has long been known for his active support of the cryptosphere. In addition, in the announcement of new functions, company representatives noted that «Bitcoin works without global borders» and with the help of such initiatives, Twitter will be able to «join the world of decentralization. » Let’s talk about what is happening in more detail.
Recall that the Lightning Network is a second level Bitcoin network. In fact, this is an add-on on top of the main BTC blockchain, which records in it only the results of several transactions after they have been carried out.
The advantages of LN are the high speed of transactions due to the nature of the network and the low cost of sending coins. Read more about the features of the Lightning Network in a separate article.
Bitcoin on Twitter
Tipping in BTC can be sent in two ways. The first is to use the Cash App payment gateways from Square or Go Fund Me. The second is to make a payment through the Strike platform, created on the second level solution of the Bitcoin Lightning Network. As we have already noted, LN is an important infrastructure development that allows almost instant bitcoin transactions with tiny fees.
As noted in Decrypt , so far, the crypto transfer function is available on the Twitter app only for iOS users. Support for Android operating systems is promised to be added in the near future. The official Twitter account also has instructions on how exactly users can send coins to each other.
Note that the function is activated in the profile settings. Accordingly, there the user will indicate his own cryptocurrency address, which will be used to receive funds.
The Crypto Payment Adoption Initiative is part of Twitter’s global strategy to monetize content. Other such endeavors include test functions such as «super subscribers» and «Spaces» conferences, which are currently only available to a limited number of people on the platform.
Users of the Lightning Network itself reacted very positively to the news: the day before, the number of new LN nodes and channels between them increased by 23.68 and 22.24 percent, respectively. According to the 1ML service, at the time of this writing, 27,082 nodes with more than 73,662 channels are active on the Lightning Network .
Lightning Network Statistics
What is happening is also associated with the situation in El Salvador. Recall that on September 7, 2021, Bitcoin became an official payment instrument, so you can pay with it almost anywhere. At the same time, transactions take place precisely through the Lightning Network, which allows the parties to save on commissions.
Fulmo startup CEO Jeff Gallas said the innovations on Twitter will positively impact the adoption of innovations in the Bitcoin ecosystem itself. Here is his line.
It is very interesting to watch the latest implementation of the Lightning Network in the real world. More and more pieces of the puzzle are coming together.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
Twitter’s decision to use the Lightning Network is not accidental – the network was created for micropayments, which means it is great for small transactions for every person in the world. At the same time, now even those people who were not interested in crypto before will be able to receive transfers from other users from all over the world themselves, which will only increase the popularity of Bitcoin.
We believe that the implementation of this feature can compare in importance with the support for cryptocurrencies on the PayPal platform, which was announced in the fall of 2020. Now, even critics of digital assets will understand that they have at least one undeniable advantage in the form of transferring value anywhere in the world for a penny commission. And this is a great reason to start learning about cryptocurrencies and using them.
