Cash App will integrate with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network for US Based Customers

• Block (previously Square), Jack Dorsey’s company, has announced the integration of Lightning Network into its famous Cash App.

• Off-chain payments are possible using the Lightning Network, which reduces costs and improves transaction speeds.

• Spiral, Block’s cryptocurrency business, previously published a Lightning Development Kit for other developers to utilize.

Square (now spiral)  involvement in Cryptocurrency

Cash App launched Bitcoin buying and selling in 2018 and has since gotten increasingly active with cryptocurrency. In December, Spiral, the company’s crypto development branch, launched a Lightning Development Kit. This utility makes it easier for other developers to incorporate Lightning Network payments into their wallets or app.

Square has also made a direct investment in Bitcoin. It acquired 8,027 BTC in two different transactions. In October 2020, it purchased 4,709 BTC, followed by another 3,318 BTC in February 2021. The entire investment of the firm is approximately $343 million.

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Twitter, where Dorsey served as CEO until his exit in November 2021, has also added Lightning support. Strike, a Lightning-based program powers its Bitcoin tipping system.

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The functionality of the Lightning network

During an interview with Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark in February 2019, Dorsey mentioned the functionality. At the time, Dorsey stated that Lightning would most likely be linked with Cash App when the firm could figure out how to make the most of its speed, noting that the inclusion was “not an ‘if,’ it’s more of a ‘when.’

The functionality has been anticipated since November 2021, when TheTapeDrive editor-in-chief Steve Moser discovered data for it concealed in Cash App’s code.

Lightning Network and users concerns

Although Cash App did not officially publicize the change, several users have reported receiving an in-app message indicating the upgrade. “We’ve recently introduced Lightning Network,” it says. Use the quickest, most cost-effective way to pay anyone in Bitcoin—simply scan or transfer to a Lightning address.”

It is unclear whether the new function is now available to all users. Some users have complained that the functionality is only available to iOS users for the time being and that Android users have not received the update.