Imagine being on the other side of the world… You pick up an electric bike, scan your phone, pay for hire (without foreign exchange fees) and ride away into the sunset.

This is exactly what a new Bitcoin bike design can allow you to do.

The Bitcoin bike has been created by German-based independent system administrator, Matthias Steinig.

Speaking to Micky News, Matthias says it was research into the Lightning Network – a payments protocol that operates on top of the Bitcoin blockchain – that inspired him to get to work on the design.

“I was immediately fascinated by the technology and convinced that it would be a big step forward for Bitcoin,” Steinig told Micky.

“I wanted to contribute something for the mass adoption and looked for use case in which Lightning can be used and prove his stability.

Thank you @leblitzdick for coming to @streamr dApp City node at #Web3Summit to demonstrate electric bike rental via Bitcoin Lightning implementation. @ethereum and #bitcoin sharing ideas is just great. ???? @lightning When can we unlock all bikes already out there with Satoshi????? pic.twitter.com/bgmQpZKvdz — Weilei (@WeileiY) October 24, 2018

What the tech guru has essentially designed is a decentralised way to hire a bike anywhere in the world.

“It simply switches the main power of the battery on if you successfully paid your invoice with your Lightning Wallet App through a QR code that is generated and displayed by the program,” says Steining.



“The special thing about the lightning-bike is that it works independently by its UMTS network card and the battery. No stationary power cable, network cable or WiFi network

is required.”

He says the system could be easily transferred to other mobile rental systems, completely changing the way we hire things.

“If someone would like to develop it further with me I am happy to do so.

“I have some ideas that build on top of the lightning-bike especially in mobility”

So keep an eye on Matthias for future developments!

How Australian punters are using Bitcoin to bet on the Melbourne Cup, AFL and Big Bash Cricket. Click here to read the Micky News article.