Full-service blockchain development firm, Bitfury has reportedly partnered with HadePay, a US-based payments processing company, in order to help merchants accept payments made using the Lightning Network (LN), a second-layer cryptocurrency payment solution.
Bitfury’s latest Lightning Peach API, which was developed through a collaborative effort involving HadePay, has been designed to make it easier for users to conduct LN-based payments. At present, HadePay’s services include allowing users to accept payments in fiat currencies and cryptos. The company also works with PayPal and Square in order to help process payments for clients throughout the world.
Commenting on the initiative, Pavel Prikhodko, the head at Lightning Peach (a working group set up by Bitfury to focus on LN research and development), remarked:
HadePay’s wide network will now be able to accept bitcoin knowing that the transaction will go through almost immediately. The Lightning Network is an essential tool for efficient cryptocurrency payments, and we’re thrilled to be bringing it that much closer to worldwide adoption.
Lightning Network Used To Make Payments Faster, Cheaper To Process
Meanwhile, Brian Nichols, the founder and CEO at HadePay, said:
Our customers are excited to leverage much faster, cheaper, and more convenient Bitcoin payments made possible by Peach. Bitfury and the Lightning Peach team are perfect partners due to our shared goal of providing businesses with the most cutting-edge financial technology possible.
Nichols added that bitcoin had “always been a good low-cost alternative to fiat payments.” However, there had been some issues with payments being delayed in late 2017 (due to network congestion) when cryptocurrency prices reached all-time highs. Integrating the LN, Nichols noted, will allow bitcoin payments to be “equally convenient as [the company’s] fiat payment processing services, thereby paving the way for mass adoption.”
Bringing Lightning Network (LN) Payments To BTCBIT Users
The HadePay platform, which uses Bitfury’s Peach merchant API to enable LN payments, is only available to merchants in the US, Canada, and the European Union. As mentioned in Lightning Peach’s blog, HadePay’s hybrid (both fiat and crypto) payment gateway can be accessed by users in all 50 US states. Professional services firms, golf courses, non-profit entities, shopping stores, restaurants, and lodging and resorts clubs can all use HadePay in order to process payments, the blog noted.
In mid-January 2019, the San Francisco-based Bitfury Group revealed it was working with BTCBIT, a Poland-based cryptoasset exchange, to help “bring Lightning Network payments” to traders using BTCBIT. According to Lightning Peach’s blog post, the LN integration is aimed at “helping more people use bitcoin in their everyday lives in a faster and more convenient way.”
According to data from 1ML.com, a website that tracks LN’s growth, the Lightning Network has reached a capacity of 827.9 BTC (appr. $3,240,000). There are currently 7,358 LN nodes, which is notably an increase of about 18% in the last 30 days. Other data from 1ML shows there are now over 36,000 LN payment channels, which represents an increase of 40% in the past month.
