Xapo Becomes First Fully-Licensed Bank To Adopt Bitcoin Lightning Network

Xapo Bank has partnered with Lightspark to become the world's first fully licensed private bank to support the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network for faster payments.

According to a press release, the integration is complete and accessible to all existing customers.

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Xapo Bank users can pay for small purchases of up to $100 in BTC at any vendor that supports the Lightning Network. During its ongoing support of BTC, Xapo Bank will offer customers near-instant Bitcoin transactions with reduced costs at all locations where the Lightning Network is supported.

The Lightning Network brings scalability to Bitcoin. It facilitates millions of transactions per second, far higher than possible on the BTC mainnet. Additionally, it helps to cut transaction costs, which are prohibitive during small transactions.

Xapo Bank aims to become the biggest Lightning node in the world, expanding its use to new use cases and users. People will need to hold BTC in a Xapo Bank app to use the service. They can then scan and pay an invoice for any merchant accepting Lightning Network payments.

On February 24, Xapo Bank set a fixed transaction fee of SAT 15, which is lower than $0.01.

According to the Chair of Xapo Bank, Wences Casares, Bitcoin is the future of money. He added that:

By expanding our services to include instant Bitcoin transfers, we can offer our members better usability and ultimately grow the cryptocurrency that many of our members rely on.

In 2022, several crypto-related firms, like Robinhood and Cash App, integrated Bitcoin Lightning into their services.