- Xapo Bank has integrated the Lightning Network for faster transactions
- Xapo has been working with Lightspark to integrate the Layer 2 solution
- Lightspark was co-founded by the former head of Facebook’s Libra product, David Marcus
Xapo Bank, a global private bank headquartered in Gibraltar, has integrated the Lightning Network to enhance its Bitcoin capabilities. Through a partnership with the Lightspark Lightning Network infrastructure platform, Xapo has added Lightning Network capabilities in order to facilitate faster and less costly transactions on the platform, reducing the wait time for blockchain confirmations and transaction fees compared to the original Bitcoin network. Lightspark was co-founded in 2021 by David Marcus, who headed up Facebook’s disastrous Libra cryptocurrency for almost four years, and this deal represents an impressive first step for the fledgling company.
Xapo Morphed to a Bank in 2021
Xapo was launched as a Bitcoin-centric bank in 2014, primarily as an institutional Bitcoin custody platform, converting it to Xapo Bank in 2021 with the aim of meshing “traditional private banking with the digital currencies of the future”. Clearly Xapo founder Wences Casares felt that working on the original Bitcoin chain was proving too slow and cumbersome for his clients, so he has gone the way of the likes of Okex and Bitpay and integrated the Lightning Network in order to reduce transaction friction.
The implementation means that Xapo Bank members can now instantly make purchases of up to $100 at any merchant that accepts Lightning payments. The integration does not currently support high-volume transactions, but this may come over time.
Lightspark Hits the Ground Running
Lightspark revealed that it had been testing its beta product with Xapo Bank for the last few months, adding that the full integration would allow Xapo customers to “pay for small purchases and benefit from fast, secure and low cost Bitcoin transactions”.
The company is still technically in its closed beta, but the deal with Xapo proves that it appears to have what it takes to impress even at this early stage in its life.
