Bitcoin Lightning Network Coming To Coinbase, CEO Armstrong Confirms

As part of its global service expansion and improvement plans, crypto exchange Coinbase announced plans to integrate with the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The move could enforce and facilitate its plans to offer more cryptocurrency payments to users globally.

Coinbase Is Exploring The Best Ways To Integrate Lightning, CEO Says

This development came to public notice via a Wednesday, August 2, tweet by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. The CEO noted that the San Francisco-based exchange is exploring the “best ways to add Bitcoin Lightning.”

Brain Armstrong’s tweet reads: “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.” “Let’s build together,” he added.

It’s worth noting that Brain Armstrong’s remark came in response to the founder of Block Inc., Jack Dorsey’s tweet. Dorsey, a prominent Bitcoin investor, had questioned Coinbase for “ignoring” Bitcoin and the Lightning Network on its platform in a July 26 tweet.

The Block Inc. founder demanded to know what cryptocurrency offers a better money transmission protocol than Bitcoin and why. In his response, Armstrong clarified that Coinbase never “ignored Bitcoin but has onboarded more users to Bitcoin than any other company in the world.” 

The Lightning Network is a second-layer payment solution operation on the Bitcoin blockchain. This payment solution works with “channels” linking nodes that enable users to send BTC “off-chain.” 

These micropayment channels allow parties to lock funds on-chain, the funds are later inserted into the blockchain, which enables the network to cut costs and transaction speed while compromising security and finality. 

Brain Armstrong Lashed By Bitcoin Enthusiasts

Brain Armstrong’s latest remark about Coinbase adopting the Lightning Network isn’t his first. On April 8, the CEO responded to remarks by Bitcoin enthusiasts calling him out for “ignoring the Lightning Network.”

A notable Bitcoin community member @w_s_bitcoin had called people’s attention to the fact that Brain Armstrong has “never tweeted or said anything” about the layer-2 scaling network.

In response, Brain Armstrong clarified that his tweets auto-delete after some months; therefore, no search history exists. The executive assured that Lightning is a “great network and something Coinbase wants to integrate.”

However, the CEO provided no further details regarding how Coinbase intends to integrate Lightning and what users should expect.

Coinbase is not the only crypto exchange that Bitcoin Maxis have called out for not integrating the Lightning Network.

However, Lightning Enthusiast, David Coen, wrote on Github that Coinbase would join Bitfinex, OKX, and Kraken among the largest platforms to have added Lightning if Armstrong keeps his word.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com