Altcoin News: Zebpay Is the First Cryptocurrency Exchange to Add Support for the Lightning Network

March 30, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

Cryptocurrency exchanges are beginning to believe Lightning Network is quite reliable. Zebpay has announced support for LN payments for all users.

The company also said it would pay user fees for Lightning transactions made through a Zebpay wallet. Despite its “experimental” nature, the Lightning network is growing rapidly, and its integration into core services continues. The announcement from Malta-based Zebpay, once India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, claims to mark the first acceptance of LN payments by a major exchange.

Zebpay clients who can use the service through the web interface and applications for iOS and Android now have the opportunity to use the BTC wallet balance to complete Lightning transactions. Zebpay emphasizes the need to use the service for shopping in stores that support Lightning and states:

“Users can buy virtually anything by identifying the store, copying or scanning the invoice of the product or service, and finalizing the payment — all within milliseconds.”

Representatives of the exchange said that “Zebpay will pay a commission for Lightning transactions made from its wallet.” However, the proposal has a limitation. Users can complete up to 10 transactions per day for amounts from 1 satoshi to 0.001 BTC (about $4 at the current exchange rate). Although this may seem like a small amount, LN is still at the testing stage and is not recommended for making payments on large amounts. Current use cases are also largely focused on microtransactions. CEO Ajeet Khurana said:

“We believe that crypto empowers investors and allows anyone to control their own financial destinies. By offering zero-fee trading, we act on our mission to liberate crypto from the shackles of trading fees, and to reduce the friction for all those who are new to crypto.”

After launch in 2014, Zebpay has become the largest cryptocurrency exchange in India. After the ban on banking services for cryptocurrency companies issued by the Reserve Bank of India last year, the exchange moved operations to Malta and began working in Europe.

Author: Marko Vidrih