Yes, you read that right Walmart and McDonald’s will now accept Bitcoin via the lightning network. This was made possible by the partnership of Strike wallet with Shopify, NCR, and Blackhawk. Sites that are using Shopify for card transactions will now be able to process Bitcoin lightning transactions. So, it is clear that companies are now going to circumvent the challenges of using BTC as a payment option with the lightning network.
The game-changing thing for Bitcoin
Generally, paying with debit and credit cards costs the merchants a lot of fees. But with the Bitcoin lightning network, merchants associated with it will be able to accept payments without any such costs. Using the Bitcoin lightning network is also feasible for the user as it is incredibly cheap and fast. Since a lot of retailers and big players are working with Shopify, Blackhawk, and NCR, the adoption of the lightning network will be huge.
Some big names here are McDonald’s, Walmart, Best Buy, and Starbucks. More details on the same are going to come soon, but reports suggest that over 400k stores will be starting to accept BTC soon. Influencers on Twitter are also pretty stoked about the latest development in the payments industry. Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, has thanked Jack Mallers, CEO of Zap, for the amazing step. At the same time, Ran Neuner says that it’s difficult to understand the magnitude of the announcement.
About the lightning network
The Lightning Network is based on the use of the base technology of blockchain. It is feasible to construct a secure network of participants capable of transacting at high volume and speed by leveraging genuine Bitcoin/blockchain transactions. The use of its native smart-contract programming language is also a part of the lightning network.
Payments on the blockchain network are very quick as there is no need to wait for block confirmation. The security of every transaction is guaranteed through blockchain smart contracts as there is no need for on-blockchain transactions. The speed of payment is measured in ms (milliseconds) or s (seconds). The lightning network is also scalable and can support even a billion transactions per second.
Do you think that as Walmart and McDonald’s are soon going to accept Bitcoin, things will change drastically in terms of adoption? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like and share it with your friends.
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