A Japanese bar has reportedly partnered with a local Lightning Network (LN) protocol developer, known as Nayuta, in order to allow customers to pay for wine and other beverages by using the layer-two cryptocurrency payments channel.

During this month, Japan-based tech firm Nayuta will work with Awabar Fukouka to test the LN-powered payment system in what’s being referred to as a “field test.”

Lightning Network Adoption Increasing Steadily

Notably, the LN has seen increased levels of adoption in the past few months as its supporters believe it’s the best approach towards scaling the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. However, Bitcoin Core developers and other organizations, such as Casa which supports its development, have cautioned users that LN is still in its experimental stages.

While still being fairly risky to use (as not all Lightning Network transactions are successful), Nayuta’s management is planning to analyze how the second-layer crypto payments channel works in real world scenarios. The developers at Nayuta intend to conduct research which would allow them to determine what improvements can be made to the LN protocol.

“Familiarizing Community” with Bitcoin and Lightning Network

Acknowledging that their role in the project is “small”, as the bar itself did not develop the LN-based software, Awabar’s owners said they are “delighted” to experiment with Nayuta’s crypto payments technology.

In statements shared with CoinDesk, the Japanese bar’s owners stated:

We hope it helps familiarize the community with the Lightning Network payment system.

In order to demonstrate how the bitcoin payments will be processed, by using Nayuta’s app (which operates on BTCPay, an open-source crypto payment processing service), the software’s developers have released a video which shows how the app settles transactions.

Notably, Nayuta’s team members are well-known for creating specifications for the Lightning Network. The blockchain development firm recently released its own version of the LN protocol which has been designed specifically for internet of things (IoT)-based applications and devices.

Bitfinex to Launch Lightning Network-Powered USDT

The main idea behind Nayuta’s new LN software is to allow household appliances such as TVs and refrigerators to easily connect to the internet and efficiently share data.

Many other companies and organization are developing solutions using the Lightning Network. On May 31, 2019, the management at Bitfinex, a British Virgin Islands-registered and Hong Kong-operated digital asset exchange, revealed they intend to launch Tether’s USDT stablecoin on a Lightning Network (LN) protocol-enabled network.

According to 1ML data, there are currently 8,619 LN nodes, up 4.5% in the past 30 days. Currently, there are 35,736 LN channels situated throughout the world and the total capacity of the layer two network stands at around 1,013 BTC – an amount currently valued at over $8.9 million.