Latest news with #LightningNetwork
Malaysian Reserve
a day ago
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Amboss Launches Rails: Empowering Bitcoin Yield and Lightning Network Growth
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Amboss, a leader in AI-driven solutions for the Bitcoin Lightning Network, today unveiled Rails, a self-custodial Bitcoin service designed to enhance asset utility. Developed for companies, custodians, and high net worth individuals, Rails enables participants to put their Bitcoin to work while contributing to the performance and scalability of the Lightning Network. This launch marks a significant step forward in creating decentralized, reliable payment infrastructure for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Rails introduces a secure, innovative way for participants—termed Liquidity Providers (LPs)—to maintain full custody of their Bitcoin while generating returns through payment routing and liquidity leases. By integrating Amboss' advanced AI technology, Rails enhances the Lightning Network, enabling faster, more dependable transactions and supporting larger payment volumes. 'Rails is a transformative force for the Lightning Network,' said Jesse Shrader, CEO and Co-Founder of Amboss. 'It's not just about yield—it's about enabling businesses to strengthen the network while earning on their Bitcoin. This is a critical step in Bitcoin's evolution as a global medium of exchange.' Launch Partners and Network Impact Amboss has partnered with leading Bitcoin industry players, including CoinCorner, LQwD, and Flux (a joint venture between Axiom and CoinCorner), to bring Rails to market. CoinCorner, a pioneer in Lightning Network adoption, has integrated it into its exchange operations and everyday payment systems across the Isle of Man. LQwD, a key player in Bitcoin infrastructure, and Flux, combining Axiom's and CoinCorner's expertise, share a mission to expand the Lightning Network's role in global payments. Their involvement underscores the industry's confidence in Rails' potential to drive Bitcoin's scalability. 'Rails offers a practical way for businesses like ours to participate in the Lightning Network's growth,' said David Boylan, CFO of CoinCorner. 'We've been using the Lightning Network for years, and Rails provides a structured approach to engaging with its economy, particularly through liquidity leasing and payment routing. This aligns with our goal of making Bitcoin more accessible and practical for everyday use.' The Critical Role of Liquidity Liquidity is the backbone of the Lightning Network, ensuring smooth and efficient transaction routing across its nodes and channels. Rails empowers Liquidity Providers to contribute to this vital resource, enhancing the network's capacity to support high-value, reliable payments. By addressing liquidity demands, Rails not only creates yield opportunities for participants but also fortifies the infrastructure that makes Bitcoin a viable medium of exchange for businesses worldwide. How Rails Works Rails enables participants—known as Liquidity Providers (LPs)—to maintain full custody of their Bitcoin while accessing the Lightning Network economy. Yield opportunities arise from activities like liquidity leasing and payment routing, though returns are not guaranteed. The service includes: Rails LP: For high net worth individuals, companies with Bitcoin treasuries, and custodians, requiring a minimum of 1 Bitcoin committed for at least one year. Liquidity Subscriptions: For businesses receiving Bitcoin payments, offering cost-effective solutions with fees as low as 0.5%. Getting Involved Interested parties can explore Rails and participation details at For media inquiries, users can contact 21M Communications at phil@ About Amboss Amboss Technologies harnesses machine learning, including reinforcement learning on network graphs, to develop intelligent tools for the Lightning Network. With over five years of data-driven insights, Amboss drives network growth and unlocks new opportunities as Bitcoin scales globally. About CoinCorner CoinCorner is a leading Bitcoin exchange and payment provider committed to simplifying Bitcoin adoption. A pioneer in Lightning Network usage, CoinCorner continues to innovate in the Bitcoin space. ContactFounderPhil21M Communicationsphil@ Photo:
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Jack Dorsey's Block Plans Bitcoin Payments on Square Terminals
Block Inc. is launching a feature to allow businesses that use the company's Square point-of-sale terminals to accept payment in Bitcoin, according to a statement from the company. The Bitcoin payments feature is expected to start rolling out in the second half of 2025 and reach all eligible sellers in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals, according to the statement. When a customer wants to pay with Bitcoin, they will need to scan a QR code at checkout to initiate the payment, which will be facilitated via the Lightning Network.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
False Choice Between Bitcoin's Store Of Value And Medium Of Exchange
Bitcoin's Store of Value A debate has raged in Bitcoin between its two primary use cases, store of value and medium of exchange. This debate has waged on since its inception, though the contours of the debate have waxed and waned over time. In fact, Satoshi was likely aware of Bitcoin's bottlenecks to scaling, given that the original implementation of off-chain payments using the frequency field of transaction outputs was part of Bitcoin's original design. Payment channels in the Lightning Network eventually became a better way to achieve off-chain payments, and by 2015, the Lightning white paper planted the flag for Bitcoin as a vehicle for payments. In the last four years, however, the narrative has shifted towards Bitcoin as a store of value. At the same time, Bitcoin also had its roots as a form of digital gold, evident from the early connection between Bitcoin and Bitgold. The early conversation on the Bitcoin talk forum certainly makes reference to a digital version of gold, and the miners do the hard work of extending the chain and bringing new Bitcoin into circulation. I saw the debate in sharpest contrast in February at the Presidio Bitcoin launch event, where Jack Dorsey and Michael Saylor gave alternate opinions on this. Dorsey talked persuasively about Bitcoin's utility in the developing world, where reliance on third-party payment providers like Visa and Mastercard imposes real economic costs and infringes on freedom. Bitcoin's high value over time will come from its utility, which is a medium of exchange. Bitcoin still has a long way to go for broad use as payment, and the Bitcoin community can't give up on making real the original vision of the white paper. Saylor offered an equally convincing defense of Bitcoin as a store of value. The vast majority of capital in the world is not used for payments but for storing and preserving value. For Bitcoin to succeed, it must gain market share against the major asset classes (equities, bonds, and real estate). Saylor takes a broader definition of peer in the white paper. A peer need not be an individual, but could be an institution, a bank, a corporation, or a city. Not every person in the world needs to run nodes, but maybe the big institutions do. Just like gold, bitcoin can become the reserve asset of the world and a settlement layer between financial institutions. They both are. I believe Saylor and Dorsey are each advocates for the world as they see it. Saylor and Dorsey are both articulating a vision where they believe the marginal resources and time should be spent. And their views reflect their own backgrounds, with Dorsey emerging from the payment space and Saylor operating in the fiat capital markets. In the short term, there may be a trade-off between these two use cases of Bitcoin, as companies and individuals need to decide how to allocate their own time and resources. But in the long term, there is room for both. The real competition is not between Saylor and Dorsey, but between Saylor plus Dorsey and the rest of the tech industry. That industry is many, many times larger than our little Bitcoin bubble. Maybe I am copping out by saying we don't have to pick between Bitcoin as a store of value and medium of exchange. But really, I'm saying that all use cases of Bitcoin reinforce each other. When the world turns to bitcoin as the best investment, it will naturally want to transact in bitcoin. Similarly, if bitcoin wins the race for the best global payments, that will marginally induce more people to acquire and hold bitcoin. The real opportunity on the technology side is to more deeply integrate Bitcoin with AI. AI agents need deep ways to interact and engage with Bitcoin. We already have AI agents that can pay each other through Lightning invoices. But we need neural networks to trade and negotiate with each other using the kind of higher-dimensional transactions that Taproot was designed for. As for stores of value, AI can help design new custody solutions and more complex, useful tools as the next generation of banks holds bitcoin as their reserve asset. So, I am optimistic. And who knows, once Bitcoin achieves a store of value and medium of exchange, all that's left is the last item on the list, the unit of account.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
1.5 Million Users to Access Bitcoin's Lightning Network on Xverse thanks to Sati
Sati, a Bitcoin payments app and Lightning infrastructure provider, today announced the launch of its Lightning integration with Xverse, a Bitcoin wallet used by over 1.5 million people worldwide. Thanks to the integration, Xverse users can now send and receive sats (Bitcoin's smallest denomination) instantly over the Lightning Network with no setup, no app switching, and no custodial risk. Initially designed in 2017, the Lightning Network has grown to become Bitcoin's leading layer-2, with a current BTC capacity of over $465M. Sati is now leveraging this technology to bring the world's favorite digital currency into the pockets of almost 3 billion users worldwide, thanks to its powerful API integration with WhatsApp. 'Bitcoin was not meant to be an asset for Wall Street—it was built for peer-to-peer money, borderless and accessible,' said Felipe Servin, Founder and CEO of Sati. 'Integrating Lightning natively into Xverse brings that vision back to life, making Bitcoin usable at scale for billions.' Thanks to the integration, every Xverse user now gets a Lightning Address instantly. That means they can receive tips, pay invoices, and use Bitcoin for microtransactions—all without having to manage channels or switch between different apps. Sati expects USDT on Lightning to be supported as early as Q3 for the Xverse wallet and in July 2025 for users accessing Sati through WhatsApp. This integration positions Sati's role as a Lightning infrastructure provider, not just a consumer app. By leveraging its API-based solution, the company provides plug-and-play backend services to wallets and platforms looking to add Bitcoin payments without compromising on security or UX. The Xverse launch follows the debut of Parasite Pool, a new mining pool leveraging Sati and Xverse's tech stack and focused on democratizing Bitcoin mining. Parasite Pool charges 0% fees and pays out instantly over Lightning, making it ideal for small-scale miners, especially those running ultra-low-power hardware like Bitaxe. With over 500 users joining Parasite Pool within weeks of launch and an average pool hashrate of 5 PH/s, Parasite Pool is steadily growing its presence in the home mining space. Thanks to the Lightning integration, Parasite Pool supports the smallest Lightning payouts in the industry (a fraction of a cent), lowering the barrier to entry for anyone interested in mining. Sati recently closed a $600K pre-seed round backed by Bitcoin-focused investors, including Draper Associates, BitcoinFi, Arcanum, BoostVC, and Ricardo Salinas. The funding is being used to support global expansion, stablecoin integration, Lightning infrastructure growth, and broader access to Bitcoin in emerging markets. Sati will be conducting live product demos at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on May 27-29. To learn more about Sati, visit About Sati Sati is a Bitcoin payments infrastructure provider. Launched in 2025 with investors of the likes as Draper Associates and Ricardo Salinas, Sati powers fast, seamless Bitcoin payments on applications such as WhatsApp to fuel the next wave of adoption. Learn more at About Xverse Xverse is the on-chain platform for the Bitcoin economy—think Revolut meets Alchemy, built natively on Bitcoin. Trusted by over 1.5 million users, Xverse is launching a unified portfolio platform for Bitcoin L1 and Layer 2s, alongside developer infrastructure to power seamless Bitcoin-native apps. Press Contact [email protected]
Business Mayor
23-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Bitcoin Pizza Day: 15 Years Since 10,000 BTC Bought Two Pizzas and Changed Everything
On May 22, 2010, Bitcoin became more than just an idea—it became real money. Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer and early contributor to Bitcoin's codebase, posted a casual offer: 'I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas.' Five days later, someone took him up on it. Two Papa John's pizzas were delivered. A screenshot was posted. Bitcoin had entered the real world. That 10,000 Bitcoin, worth about $41 at the time, is now valued at over $1.1 billion. And with Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high of $111,999 on the 15th anniversary of the transaction, the story of the 'Bitcoin Pizza' carries more weight than ever. It wasn't just about the pizza. This was the moment Bitcoin proved itself as a functioning currency. Until then, it had lived mostly in theory and code—talked about by cryptographers and mined by hobbyists. Hanyecz's post, and the trade that followed, transformed the idea into action. 'This transaction made Bitcoin real in my eyes,' he said in a 2019 interview. 'It wasn't worth much at the time. I wouldn't have spent $100 million on pizza, right? But if I hadn't done that, maybe Bitcoin wouldn't have become so popular.' Over the summer of 2010, Hanyecz continued using Bitcoin to buy pizzas, eventually spending more than 79,000 BTC—now worth nearly $8.7 billion. While some have joked at his expense, the truth is this: without those early real-world transactions, Bitcoin might never have proven its use case. Hanyecz helped move Bitcoin from the fringe into functionality. That legacy still shapes us today. Bitcoin Pizza Day has become a cultural milestone in the crypto world, with meetups, pizza parties, and educational events held globally each May 22. The day serves as a reminder of how far the technology has come—and the importance of everyday actions and the impact they have. Just this week, fast food chain Steak 'n Shake began accepting Bitcoin via the Lightning Network, signaling a growing wave of mainstream adoption. What once felt experimental is now becoming part of everyday commerce. Bitcoin Pizza Day is about recognition. One simple transaction proved that Bitcoin could work—and 15 years later, the world is still building on that first bite. READ SOURCE
