The integration brings instantaneous transfers on the layer-2 Lightning Network to the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange.
Coinbase has begun supporting the Bitcoin Lightning Network, providing users the choice between Lightning and the Bitcoin network when transferring Bitcoin (BTC).
By using the layer-2 Lightning Network, Coinbase customers can transfer Bitcoin more quickly and cheaply than transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. To use the Lightning Network, the intended recipient sends an invoice consisting of a lengthy string of characters that Coinbase will recognize as the amount of the transfer.
Transfers on Lightning are “instant,” in contrast to transfers on the Bitcoin network that may take from 10 minutes to 2 hours because of the limited number of transactions per second the Bitcoin network processes. However, “sends via Lightning to some self-custody wallets may take multiple hours or fail due to unique implementations or fee structures,” Coinbase warned on April 30.
