Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, has announced that the popular cryptocurrency exchange will incorporate the Bitcoin Lightning Network, a layer-2 solution designed to facilitate faster and more cost-effective BTC transactions. This decision comes after several months of scrutiny from the Bitcoin community, including notable critics such as Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter and current CEO of Block Inc.
In a tweet, Armstrong expressed his support, stating, “The team did a great job digging into this, and we’ve made the decision to integrate Lightning. Bitcoin is the most important asset in crypto, and we’re excited to do our part to enable faster/cheaper Bitcoin transactions. It will take some time to integrate, so please be patient.”
Armstrong’s announcement was prompted by a tweet from Viktor Bunin, a protocol specialist at Coinbase Cloud, who is spearheading the effort to integrate the Lightning Network into Coinbase’s platform. Bunin’s tweet read, “Friends, I’m happy to say that I’m leading up this effort. DM me if you’d like to grab some time to chat Lightning support at Coinbase. Particularly keen to get insights on lift to add support, UX flows, open-source tooling, service providers, and edge cases. Thanks!”
Bunin’s tweet indicates that Coinbase is taking a comprehensive approach to the integration, focusing on various aspects such as user experience, open-source tooling, and potential edge cases. In response to a user’s inquiry about supporting unified QR codes for a simplified user experience, Bunin acknowledged, “Yeah, that seems to be the play from a very cursory look.” He also revealed that they are “just starting on the hard bit now – doing the actual integration.”
Notably, Coinbase had faced criticism for its perceived lack of support for Bitcoin and its layer-2 solutions. This marks a significant development as Coinbase moves forward with the integration of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, aligning with the broader crypto community’s interests in enhancing Bitcoin’s transaction capabilities.
