Popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has announced it’s going to add support for deposits and withdrawals using the Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s layer-two scaling solution.
According to The Block, Bitfinex’s CTO Paolo Ardoino added that the firm is also looking to bring Tether’s USDT stablecoin and Tether Gold, a gold-backed cryptocurrency, onto the layer-two scaling solution.
Adding support for Lightning Network deposits and withdrawals could bring in more users to it, and makes Bitfinex one of the first major exchanges to add support for it. Speaking to the news outlet Ardoino revealed the exchange sees promises in the network, and added:
In Bitfinex, we think that it [the Lightning Network] can be the game-changer of our industry, since it enables P2P micro-payments with small fees and high throughput. Its P2P nature carries the unstoppable force of bitcoin.
Ardoino added, however, the Lightning Network requires more “awareness, understand and adoption” from the cryptocurrency community, and hopes Bitfinex’s support will speed up its adoption process. The Lightning Network is seen by some as the solution to Bitcoin’s scalability problems, while others argue the BTC blockchain would be able to scale without the need of other layers.
Crypto gift card provider Bitrefill has shared on social media it’s providing Bitfinex with support for the Lightning Network deposits and withdrawals:
It’s worth noting that despite a growing usage of Bitcoin, the Lightning Network’s growth has seemingly stalled. After declining between March and August of this year, the layer-two scaling solution’s capacity has been around the 820 BTC area for months.
Featured image via Unsplash.
