Lightning Labs secures $70M funding to integrate stablecoins on Bitcoin’s network

Lightning Labs, the software firm for the Bitcoin (BTC/USD) network, has secured $70M funding to develop the Lightning Network. The funds will boost speeds and lower costs for transactions done on the Lightning network.

$70M Series B funding round

Lightning Network has raised $70M in a Series B funding round. The funding round was led by Valor Equity Partners. The other investors in this funding round include Goldcrest Capital, Baillie Gifford and other angel investors.

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The funds will be used to boost the flexibility of Lightning Labs, and they will be used as the fuel for which the company will achieve the desired growth. Despite the milestones that Lightning Labs has made, it remains a small company of 24 employees.

The co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs, Elizabeth Stark, has also announced plans to boost the efficiency of Taro. It plans to bring stablecoins and other assets into the Bitcoin network to boost its adoption.

Bringing stablecoins to Bitcoin

Part of the funding will be directed towards the Taro protocol to allow Lightning Network users to adopt stablecoins. Lightning Labs will not be the issuer of these stablecoins, but it will only provide the infrastructure needed to facilitate stablecoin transactions on the network.

The Bitcoin network was empowered to support stablecoins through the Taproot upgrade in November last year. The upgrade also brought smart contracts into the Bitcoin network.

Lightning Labs believes that it will be possible for the Bitcoin network to receive further adoption with Taro. This is because the Bitcoin network facilitates transactions even in areas where there are unbanked people.

In an interview with Forbes, Stark noted that the adoption of Taro was “really significant because the potential here is for all the world’s currencies to route through Bitcoin over the Lightning Network.”

She further added that Visa should “be scared because there are a lot of people out there that have mobile phones, but now don’t need to tap into the traditional system.”

The Lightning Network is currently being used in El Salvador, which adopted Bitcoin as legal tender last year. It is also being used on other platforms such as Strike and Twitter.