(BlockBar) Fold announces the integration of Bitcoin’s lightning network into their apps to help users use Bitcoin in Amazon, Starbucks, Uber and other large retailers.
Early users of Bitcoin should remember that Fold, founded in 2014, was one of the earliest start-ups based on the P2P digital cash system. At that time, the main function of the app was to save 20% of the cost of buying Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin. However, the company was severely affected a few years ago when the Bitcoin network began to congest and the rise in transaction costs on the chain make Fold useless.
Fold’s CEO Will Reeves said: “We quickly realized that Layer-1 is not our ideal payment track. Due to long-time confirmation, and especially the high transaction cost on the chain, the network is hardly to use for most consumers and retailers. Because of these challenges, we have been very active in adopting and building layer-2 solutions, such as lightning networks, in the hope that Bitcoin Payment will continue to operate.”
Lightning network is a secondary payment layer based on Bitcoin network, which allows users to trade directly without publishing all transactions to the Bitcoin block chain. This makes Bitcoin payment faster, cheaper, and may enhance privacy. As a way of payment in Bitcoin, Lightning Network has grown steadily in 2019. Earlier this year, an online retailer revealed that Lightning has become a popular payment method.
For Fold, the lightning network provides users with faster and cheaper bitcoin payments, while retaining the core spirit of the technology – decentralization. Fold tested the new payment network through a pizza ordering service called Lightning Pizza before adding lightning network functionality to the core app.
Reeves also said “We launched Lightning Pizza to test the hypothesis that if Bitcoin payments were as simple and rewarding as using credit cards, people would change their spending habits.” “We were shocked by the results. An immediate, simple, zero-cost payment and good incentives can really help people form consumption habits. Lightning Pizza sells thousands of pizzas every day, and thousands of regular customers spend tens of thousands of dollars. Of course, there are many problems in user experience and technology to be solved, but I believe that the introduction of lightning network into Fold products will also achieve the same result, making Bitcoin payment as simple as credit card. We will soon introduce new features that will be widely accepted.”
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