The Bitcoin Software Company (BTC) Lightning Labs has secured a large funding round to enable and further develop the Lightning Network for faster and cheaper bitcoin and stablecoin transactions.
The series B financing round of USD 70 millionhas been led by Valor Equity Partners and has had the participation of Baillie Gifford, Goldcrest Capital and several other angel investors. Lightning Labs creates additional features and software for the Lightning Network (LN), Bitcoin’s layer 2 transaction solution.
The funding will go towards a new protocol it has developed, called Taro, which will allow stablecoins to be transferred through the LN, according to reports. Lightning Labs will not issue stablecoins, but the infrastructure will allow them to be sent over the network.
Stablecoin transactions were made possible with the Bitcoin Taproot update in November 2021, which also introduced smart contract capabilities.
The company believes that Taro will enable further adoption of Bitcoin as it potentially allows the unbanked in developing countries to send money using stablecoins.
Speaking to Forbes, Elizabeth Stark, CEO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, said: “This is really significant because the potential here is for all currencies in the world to go through Bitcoin through the Lightning Network.”. Speaking to Tech Crunch, he added:
“If I were Visa, I would be scared, because there are a lot of people out there who have mobile phones, but now they don’t need to go through the traditional system.”
Lightning Labs raised $10 million from its Series A in September, which followed a $2.5 million seed round in 2018.
LN is currently used extensively in El Salvador, the first country to make bitcoin legal tender. It has also been launched on the Strike payment platform and Twitter’s tipping tool. The current guarantee of the network is 3,693 BTC, worth about $167 million, which is an increase of 5.8% in the last month, according to statistics.
Stablecoins are now an integral part of the digital currency ecosystem and are slowly being accepted by global regulators. The latest to give the green light to crypto assets with fiduciary value has been the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the United Kingdom, which intends to adjust the existing regulatory framework to incorporate stablecoins as a payment method.
The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. All investments and operations involve risk, so you should do your own research when making a decision.
Keep reading:
Investments in crypto assets are not regulated. They may not be suitable for retail investors and the full amount invested may be lost. The services or products offered are not aimed at or accessible to investors in Spain.