BitPay, a provider of cryptocurrency payment services, now supports payments not only with traditional bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin), but also with Lightning Network, a layer 2 payment network that brings usability of smart contracts for the bitcoin ecosystem.
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With the update, BitPay's merchants can receive payments from such wallets like Cash App and Strike that also have support for Lightning, the company said in a press release seen by iHodl. Tony Gallippi, BitPay's Co-Founder, says the company wanted to give customers more choice and merchants more ways "to be paid leveraging blockchain technology."
Although the company has extended support for bitcoin payments, its wallet app has not yet enabled the Lightning network. BitPay stressed that fees on the Lightning Network are much lower, than on the traditional blockchain network. In January this year, Cash App started accepting bitcoin payments via Lightning Network. The upgraded payment method allowed users to send the largest by market capitalization cryptocurrency for free to any Lightning address.
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