- The Bitcoin Lightning Network is to be integrated into the OKEx exchange
- OKEx made the announcement yesterday, with integration set for the “coming quarter”
- Lightning Network has been around since 2015
OKEx is to integrate the Lightning Network onto its platform in a sign that the Layer 2 solution is finally coming of age. The Malta-based exchange, which calls itself the biggest in the world, announced the move yesterday, stating that implementing Lightning Network technology would offer huge improvements over bitcoin transaction time and fees. The development is the biggest in Lightning Network’s history and shows that mainstream adoption might finally be on the horizon for the six year old project.
OKEx Eyes Faster, Cheaper Bitcoin Transactions
OKEx hadn’t given any hint that it was considering implementing the Lighting Network, which has long been the standout solution to Bitcoin’s famous scaling problems. The move, which will be welcomed by OKEx customers as much as it will by Lightning Network supporters, was announced in a press release yesterday, where the exchange explained that the growth in Bitcoin’s popularity has seen the “cost of transactions rises significantly, while transaction speed is greatly reduced.”
As a result the average transaction cost is around $10, say OKEx, while transactions themselves can take between 10 and 30 minutes. Lightning Network transactions on the other hand are instant and almost zero cost.
Lightning Network Gets Opportunity to Shine
The move itself is slated to be introduced “in the coming quarter” and was welcomed by Lightning Labs CEO and Co-Founder Elizabeth Stark:
OKEx’s Lightning integration marks a big step for its users and the bitcoin community as a whole, enabling instant, global, low fee transactions. OKEx’s leadership in adopting Lightning will help bring bitcoin to the next billion people around the world.
Lighting Network has been around since 2015 but has never got the real world adoption it perhaps deserves, even though it is certainly what Bitcoin needs. Kudos must go to OKEx for taking the bold step of switching their Bitcoin trading mechanism to Lightning Network, and hopefully a successful integration will go some way to encouraging larger scale usage of the technology.
