On October 25, 2022, Cash App, a mobile phone payment processing application created by Block Inc, has reportedly provided support for transactions through usage of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, as reported by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, the new feature permits Cash App users to conduct Bitcoin-based transactions, on the layer-2 protocol. Reportedly, Cash App has already extended support to Bitcoin transactions on the Lightning Network in a limited capacity, with users constricted from paying for invoices through scanning Lightning QR codes. It is believed that all Cash App transactions concerning QR codes will default through Lightning unless otherwise specified. The new feature is expected to have a transaction capacity of $999 every week, and will be available to United States customers, barring New York-based residents.
On the basis of information by Cointelegraph, Cash App first initiated BTC trading in 2018, and rose to popularity in the US and United Kingdom on account of Bitcoin-oriented transactions. In the previous year, 81% of the application’s $12.3 billion revenue came from Bitcoin. Reportedly, the application has over 44 million active monthly users.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that users can deposit $10,000 worth of Bitcoin every seven days and are provided a tax form for in-app accounting needs. There also lies a possibility for automatic investments of a portion or all of one’s direct deposit into Bitcoin through utilisation of “Paid in Bitcoin” feature with no fees. Otherwise, regular transactions carry a percentage fee of two percent. Currently, the Lightning Network has approximately 87,000 payment channels and 4,570 BTC locked in. However, adoption has been slow on account of certain factors, with the total number of coins on Lightning representing a certain fraction of the 19 million BTC currently in circulation.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
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