Coinbase eyes Bitcoin Lightning Network integration, says CEO Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, said the exchange was working to integrate Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network (LN) as part of efforts to drive cryptocurrency payments in the world, according to an Aug. 2 tweet.
Armstrong made this statement in response to a tweet from Jack, Twitter’s co-founder, who questioned why Coinbase was ignoring the implementation of LN in its attempt to further crypto payment options.
In response, Armstrong said:
“We’re looking into how to best add Lightning. It’s non-trivial, but I think worth doing. I’m all for payments taking off in Bitcoin.”
The LN is a “layer 2” payment protocol built on Bitcoin. The scaling solution enables faster, cheaper transactions between nodes and aims to solve BTC scalability issues, thereby improving user experience and potentially driving broader adoption of the flagship digital asset. It is also the most popular BTC L2 solution.
Armstrong did not provide additional information on when the Coinbase integration could happen.
In April, the Coinbase CEO hinted that the exchange would integrate LN into its platform after being challenged by several community members over the exchange’s lack of access to the scaling solution.
Meanwhile, Binance joined other top exchanges, including Bitfinex, Kraken, and OKX, that integrated the L2 solution in July.
BTC Lightning adoption grows
LN adoption has grown since the beginning of the year, evidenced by the recent partnership between Bitcoin Lightning infrastructure provider, Voltage and Google Cloud to increase its hosting capacity and locations globally.
Data from Glassnode further shows that the total value of assets locked on the network peaked at over 5,000 BTC in early July. This represents significant growth for the web, considering it had around 4,000 BTC at the beginning of this year.
However, the TVL has dipped by more than 600 BTC in recent weeks to 4,706 BTC as of press time.