Peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchanges are starting to take a battering from regulators, forcing many to remove popular features from their platforms. Last week, we saw LocalBitcoins remove the feature to trade Bitcoin for cash as regulators increased pressure, but the move appears to have spurred other P2P exchanges to add more features. More P2P exchanges have sprung up in the past 5 days and existing P2P exchanges have started adding new features, with Hodl Hodl launching support for the Lightning Network. Adding Lightning Network support is a huge game changer for P2P crypto exchanges, as it cuts fees by a vast amount and it means the transaction can be completed in a much more time efficient manner.
Making Lightning Network Transactions Easier
Fortunately, users who are looking to take advantage of the Lightning Network on Hodl Hodl don’t need to go through any complicated or elongated steps. If you want to sell your Bitcoin and get paid in cash quickly, simply place your trade up on the Hodl Hodl site, send the Bitcoin to Hodl Hodl and wait for your transaction to be matched. Hodl Hodl will act as an escrow service, taking the Bitcoin you send and putting it into the Lightning Network for you – meaning you don’t need to learn how to create and open channels. This will help reduce fees involved with making a transaction and will drastically speed up the transaction time.
Be Careful When Using the Lightning Network
If you’re running your own Lightning Network nodes, you need to take a few steps to remain secure and anonymous. Unfortunately, research firms are paying huge amounts of money to anyone who has data on the Lightning Network, meaning people are now being incentivized to data mine the Lightning Network. If you’re not using basic privacy techniques, your IP and crypto wallet data could easily find its way into the hands of advertising firms or worse. By using Tor, private channels, and coinjoins you can help prevent people from matching your IP to your Lightning Network node – a necessity to avoid being hacked at some point.
Hodl Hodl is experiencing a nice boost in traffic after LocalBitcoins was forced to remove Bitcoin for cash trades, and with Lightning Network implementation we will only see it grow further. It’s without a doubt that the Lightning Network is the future of Bitcoin, so Hodl Hodl jumping on it early on gives it a competitive advantage over the other P2P crypto exchanges out there.
