By Chinenye Anuforo
Paxful, a leading global peer-to-peer (P2P) fintech platform, has announced that weekly transactions on the Lightning Network have increased tremendously. Globally, deposit volume has increased 5x since the platform launched its integration on the Lightning Network in September 2021. In April alone this year, Paxful noted that the deposit volume increased by 54%.
In Nigeria, the volume of money being sent out on Lightning has doubled from October 2021 to May 2022. One telling insight is that Paxful’s median Lightning sendout for 2022 is less than $30–which is less than its median Bitcoin sendout amount. This is another proof point showing the utility for Lightning micropayments.
The Lightning Network is the cheapest option for Bitcoin micropayments because of the difference in network fees. This has global implications as Bitcoin now becomes a stronger financial contender for everyday transactions. The Bitcoin Network is capable of handling 5 to 10 transactions per second but Lightning has the potential to process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.
Transferring Bitcoin in seconds
The P2P platform is optimistic that Lightning will highlight how Bitcoin is a reliable, cheap financial option for exchange and spur Bitcoin adoption.
Ray Youssef, CEO, and founder of Paxful commented that the continued growth of Lightning on the Paxful platform proves its efficiency in driving true financial freedom. “If you want to understand Bitcoin’s use cases, give access to the people. Our users are Paxful’s best product hackers and we’re excited to see them embracing Lightning. In the first week of May, Nigeria was one of the countries with the highest Bitcoin trade volume on Paxful alongside the United States, Ghana, China, and Kenya. Today, we have over 70 countries using Lightning on Paxful.”
‘’By and large, Bitcoin is still viewed as a speculative asset by many. We need to change that. The HODL mentality has its place within the Bitcoin community, however we also need to be inclusive for Bitcoin’s other use cases such as remittance, wealth preservation, and payments. This is where Bitcoin education comes in. At Paxful, we are invested in initiatives that enhance the knowledge of Bitcoin and Lightning and how they provide everyday solutions for consumers, merchants, businesses, lawmakers, and economies,” Youssef concluded.
A system built on top of the Bitcoin network, the Lightning feature seamlessly blends into Paxful’s platform and enables the company to keep user fees lower than traditional Bitcoin transactions. When users send or receive Bitcoin through the Lightning Network with their Paxful Wallet, their Bitcoin balance is used the same way as if they would transfer it on the Bitcoin network. All transactions are processed in seconds and Paxful users can utilize the Lightning Network for both transactions with other individuals and to pay for goods or services.