Lightning Network, Bitcoin‘s second-layer payment protocol that promised instant payments, scalability, and low transaction fees, was one of the topics discussed by John Carvalho, COO of Bitrefill, in an interview with POV Crypto. The subject discussed has been one of the widely debated issues in the cryptocurrency space since the beginning of the year, with the entire space even partaking in the Lightning Torch experiment on Twitter.
Carvalho spoke about the reason the company adopted Lightning Network technology and its Thor Lightning Channel-opening service. When the bearish season had started to loom over the cryptocurrency market, he stated that Bitrefill had “figured about how to grow” without being affected by it and that it continued even into 2019. He said,
“In the middle of 2018, was when they [Bitrefill] introduced the first gift card and they started with Steem and started adding a few of the major stuff and now […] we have I don’t know 2000+ products if you include gift cards and phone refills.”
He further stated that one of the company’s strategies to evade high fees of Bitcoin during the end of 2017 and early 2018 bull run was by onboarding more altcoins on the platform. He said,
“People were wanting a way to use their crypto that was less expensive to shop with and so, it was not like a thing where Bitrefill necessarily trying to capitalize on adding every shitcoin […] it was more almost out of a necessity and this also had the company learning on how to do better with accepting zero confirmatin transactions on Bitcoin”
Carvalho went on to state that the real solution for this scenario was Lightning, adding that if there would be another fee spike or massive wave of adoption, the company would have “alternative ways for [customers]” to pay in Bitcoin. He said,
“things as using Lighting as part of what we believe is helping to build out the infrastructure for a circular economy for Bitcoin […] If you want merchants, and people doing business b2b and b2c, you need to have some features that lightning provides like high-frequency, instant reception, etc”
