Visa Must Feel Frightened Lightning Labs Gets $70 Million To Add Crypto Assets Towards Its Portfolio

  • Lightning Labs raised $10 million in Series A financing, following a $2.5 million seed round in 2018. El Salvador, the first jurisdiction to make Bitcoin legal tender, is now using the LN extensively. The current network collateral is 3,693 BTC, worth about $167 million, a 5.8% rise over the previous month.
  • A $70 million Phase B funding deal was led by Valor Equity Associates, with Baillie Gifford, Goldcrest Capital, as well as a slew of other angel capitalists joining in. Lightning Labs develops new features and software for Bitcoin’s layer-2 transaction solution, the Lightning Network (LN).
  • The Bitcoin Taproot upgrade in November 2021, which also added smart contract features, enabled stablecoin transactions. Taro, according to the company, will help to increase Bitcoin acceptance by allowing the unbanked in developing countries to send money using stablecoins.

Taro is a new protocol developed by the company that allows stablecoins to be transferred and received through the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Lightning Labs, a Bitcoin (BTC) software company, has raised a significant amount of money to enable and further develop the Lightning Network, which allows for faster and cheaper Bitcoin and stablecoin transactions.

Valor Equity Partners Led The $70 Million Series B Investment Round

Valor Equity Partners led the $70 million Series B investment round, which included Baillie Gifford, Goldcrest Capital, and numerous additional angel investors. Lightning Labs develops new features and software for Bitcoin’s layer-2 transaction solution, the Lightning Network (LN).

According to sources, the funds would be invested in a new protocol dubbed Taro, which will allow stablecoins to be transferred via the LN. Stablecoins will not be issued by Lightning Labs, but the technology will allow them to be transmitted over the network. The Bitcoin Taproot upgrade in November 2021, which also added smart contract features, enabled stablecoin transactions. Taro, according to the company, will help to increase Bitcoin acceptance by allowing the unbanked in developing countries to send money using stablecoins.

That’s incredibly significant because the potential here is for all the world’s currencies to route through Bitcoin over the Lightning Network, Elizabeth Stark, CEO, and co-founder of Lightning Labs, told Forbes. She went on to say to TechCrunch: If I were Visa, I’d be worried because there are a lot of individuals who have mobile phones but don’t need to use the traditional system anymore.

Lightning Labs Was Able To collect $10 Million During Its Phase A Funding Round

In September, Lightning Labs was able to collect $10 million during its Phase A funding round following a $2.5 million seed round in 2018. El Salvador, the first jurisdiction to make Bitcoin legal tender, is now using the LN extensively. It has also been implemented on the payment platform Strike and the Twitter tipping service. According to data, the current network collateral is 3,693 BTC, worth about $167 million, a 5.8% rise over the previous month.

Stablecoins have become an important aspect of the digital currency ecosystem, and they are steadily gaining acceptance from regulators throughout the world. The UK’s Economic and Finance Ministry is the latest to approve fiat-pegged assets, with plans to change the existing regulatory framework to include stablecoins as a payment option.

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Nancy J. Allen
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Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/04/07/visa-must-feel-frightened-lightning-labs-gets-70-million-to-add-crypto-assets-towards-its-portfolio/