- Bitcoin has been included in Twitter’s new ‘Tips’ service
- Twitter users can send bitcoin to each other using Strike on the platform
- The system was trialled earlier this year
Twitter has rolled out a tipping service called ‘Tips’, with Bitcoin among its payment options. Tips will utilize the Lightning Network to allow bitcoin to be sent quickly and easily as a tip thanks to support from Strike, the company providing the infrastructure for El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout, as Bitcoin adoption moves into a new phase. Twitter announced the move yesterday following testing a few months ago, with iOS support enabled initially and Android to follow. Plans are also afoot to allow users to connect their crypto wallets and authenticate the ownership of NFTs they tweet with a badge in a sign that the company is further embracing elements of the crypto world.
Twitter Encourages Bitcoin Tipping
Twitter has been expected to roll out a Bitcoin tipping service for some time, although details about the infrastructure around the project were yet to be clarified. This was cleared up yesterday with Twitter’s announcement that various payment platforms and methods could be used to tip individuals and businesses, although citizens of New York and Hawaii will not be able to use Bitcoin tipping due to regulations.
The Twitter announcement gave their reasons for including Bitcoin in the Tips infrastructure and hinted at support for other cryptocurrencies to come, saying that digital currencies “encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible”.
Lightning Network Finally Coming of Age
The announcement is great news for Bitcoin of course, but arguably more so for the Lightning Network which, six years after it was formed, is finally getting the kind of exposure and usage for which it was designed. This has been reflected in its usage, which has been continuously growing in the past quarter:
