Bitso rolls out Lightning Network support for 8m users

As a seasoned analyst with years of experience in the dynamic world of cryptocurrency, I find this recent development between Bitso and Lightspark particularly intriguing. Having witnessed the rapid growth and evolution of the crypto market, especially in Latin America, it’s fascinating to see key players like Bitso and Lightspark pushing the boundaries of innovation.


In simple terms, the well-known cryptocurrency trading platform, Bitso, which dominates in Latin America, is now providing full access to the Lightning Network for all its users.

On November 12th, the Lightspark group announced on their platform that Bitso, a South American cryptocurrency exchange, now offers Bitcoin (BTC) support for the Lightning Network to all its users. This is a significant development for Bitso and follows Bitcoin’s price surge due to growing popularity. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading around $89,894, representing a 28% increase over the last week.

BTC traded near $89,894 at the time of writing, up 28% in the past week.

The partnership between Bitso and Lightspark, established in June, allows Bitso to utilize Lightspark’s Lightning Network technology to provide a quicker and more affordable Bitcoin transaction experience for its expanding customer base.

As reported by Lightspark, over 8 million retail users now have access to this particular feature. Now, Bitso clients from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico are capable of swiftly executing Bitcoin transactions using the layer-2 network.

Back in April 2014, Bitso made its debut as the initial cryptocurrency exchange in Mexico, entering the crypto market. By 2020, it had amassed over a million customers and expanded into Argentina and Brazil. In 2021, Bitso achieved the status of being Latin America’s first crypto unicorn. Later in 2023, they introduced their international payment service.

In May 2022, David Marcus, a former executive from Facebook responsible for payments and crypto products, unveiled Lightspark. Previously, as the founder of the Libra project in 2018, he worked at PayPal. In the announcement for Lightspark’s launch, he mentioned that the new company would delve into, construct, and expand the functionalities of Bitcoin.

Top-tier venture capital companies such as Andreessen Horowitz Crypto (a16z Crypto), Paradigm, Coatue, and Ribbit Capital have invested in Lightspark.

Read More

Sorry. No data so far.

2024-11-12 23:18