Bitso Enables Bitcoin Transactions via Lightning for All Its Customers

Bitso—Latin America’s leading crypto-powered financial services company—has enabled the ability to send and receive bitcoin via the Lightning network for its more than 8 million users in the region. In this way, Bitso strengthens the resources that allow cryptocurrencies to be used in use cases such as local payments, cross-border transactions, and remittances.

According to the latest Crypto Landscape in Latin America report, 53% of wallets in the region hold bitcoin. Additionally, the local currency trading pairs (FIAT) of Mexico (BTC-MXN) and Brazil (BTC-BRL) are the most active in Latin America. This integration strengthens Bitso’s existing flow by allowing its users to receive bitcoin payments more easily and economically, exchange it for FIAT currencies, and withdraw their money.

“Lightning is the easiest way to send and receive bitcoin. It is very simple to use and almost instantaneous. Also, the costs involved in the transfer are minimal, so we hope our customers will start taking advantage of this alternative to use bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency in the crypto ecosystem,” highlighted María Fernanda Bello, Product Manager at Bitso.

To receive bitcoin via the Lightning Network, users must go to the “Deposit” section of their app, select “crypto” and then “bitcoin,” and specify the amount to receive within the Lightning section. This will generate a QR or “invoice” that must be shared with the person who will send bitcoin from their wallet, which must also be compatible with this network. Conversely, to send bitcoin, the user must receive a QR or “invoice” generated from the recipient’s account.

The incorporation of the Lightning Network has been a long-standing request from our customer community. Making it a reality required the support of a solid and experienced partner like Lightspark, who enabled Bitso to connect reliably to the Lightning Network.

“We are excited that more and more people can send and receive bitcoin through Lightning. Bitso customers will benefit from fast, instant, and cheaper transfers, and this is another important step for the Latin American region,” said Nicolas Cabrera, VP of Product at Lightspark.