Coinbase and Lightspark Join Forces to Enhance Bitcoin Lightning Payments

Coinbase has taken a significant step towards integrating Bitcoin Lightning on its platform through a newfound partnership with Lightspark, an enterprise-oriented Lightning solution spearheaded by former PayPal president David Marcus.

According to a post on X (formely known as Twitter) dated 4 April, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expressed that the incorporation of the Bitcoin layer-2 network is imminent, offering its extensive user base of 108 million the potential for swifter and more cost-effective Bitcoin transactions.

Lightspark, in a 3 April announcement, elaborated that by "lighting up" all Coinbase touchpoints with Lightning, more transaction activity would migrate to Bitcoin's second layer, countering the recent surge in fees on its base layer.

Although Brian had confirmed Coinbase's intent to integrate Bitcoin Lightning as early as last September, specifics regarding the implementation timeline remained undisclosed.

Who is Lightspark?

Established in 2022, Lightspark has primarily focused on simplifying the complexities associated with deploying and managing a Lightning node for seamless transaction processing.

The company also developed Lightspark Predict, an AI-driven smart engine designed to optimise liquidity management and routing in real time, thereby enhancing transaction success rates and finality times.

According to data from Bitcoin financial services firm River, Lightning payments boast an impressive success rate of approximately 99.7%, based on analysis of 308,000 Lightning transactions initiated on its platform in October.

The primary cause of transaction failure typically arises when a suitable payment route with adequate liquidity cannot be identified.

However, River's findings also indicate that the average Lightning transaction size stood at approximately 44,700 satoshis or $11.84.

Moreover, the firm estimated an active user base ranging from 279,000 to 1.1 million Lightning users as of September.