05 Feb Africa - Is Lightning Network a No-Brainer for Online Payments with Bitcoin Across Africa?
Here is another thought leadership article on the future of online payments from our team at African Payment Solutions . . The cost and ease of paying with bitcoin at an online retailer is not yet working for consumers. Bitcoin is currently more of a store of value than useful for payments. It is the first crypto investment most newbies hold and particularly with its solid performance as the best performing asset over the past ten years, it kind of doesn’t make sense to get rid of it. BUT, more people have a stash of bitcoin than any other coins on the market and it has proven to be the best performing crypto asset, most solid and trusted brand, with a wide network effect. So how do people use it for payments at the checkout. Well this plays nicely into the hands of African consumers. Enter Lightning Network . . Lightning is a second later solution on top of the bitcoin network that makes bitcoin more usable from a payment perspective. On a high level its like a bar tab where you have a few drinks and settle at the end of the evening. With Lightning you transact offchain with immediate settlement, and the final balance of a series of transactions settles to the bitcoin ledger. A bit like a series of authorisations on a card during the day, and settlement of them all overnight. Consumers can choose between a variety of wallets that support Lightning like Phoenix, Electrum, Breeze, Lightning labs, Blue Wallet and Eclaire. They can be downloaded, funded on the fly, and used to transact. Most of them deal in Satoshis (a fraction of a bitcoin, like cents in the dollar, but a lot more “Sats” in a bitcoin) QR codes are the way to pay at the checkout. It works by generating an invoice to make a payment ie requesting the money. Scan the QR code and the payment is instant. There are a few kinks to iron out, which are not insurmountable, but I won’t go into them here as Lightning wallets are evolving and becoming more and more userfriendly. It looks like Lightning could be the most effective and popular means of digital payment at the checkout, and the cost of making and receiving payments is negligible. As more people hold bitcoin, wonder what to do with it, and are offered the means to pay at the checkout, lightning payment at the checkout will become more popular. We not quite there yet, so click here if you are a multinational eCommerce company looking for payment at the checkout with card or mobile money across Africa. Our services include: THANK YOU - THE TEAM AT AFRICAN PAYMENT SOLUTIONS
