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More than 150 people bought pizzas with Bitcoin this week using the Lightning network.
The crypto-payroll startup Fold, which launched the Domino web portal on Wednesday, is essentially buying pizzas for Lightning's hungry users. Will Fold Will Reeves Product Manager say:
"We are trying to make Bitcoin fun again and to illustrate that the lightning is at a point where it is ready for the general public."
The Fold Web application plans to incorporate lightning into all of its buying options over the next six months, including Starbucks, Whole Foods, Dunkin Donuts, Target and Uber. Since there is no formal partnership, cryptographic startup places orders on behalf of users and converts payments into fiat to deliver a seamless experience. It remains to be seen how this will be reflected in the company's revenue model when Lightning's options are out of beta. (A Domino comment request was not returned at the time of publication.)
"The average purchase was $ 25," Reeves said of Domino's experience. "Since the average Lightning payment is typically less than $ 5, it has been possible to extend the Lightning network to higher value payments for the first time at volume."
According to 1ML, the global network set new records this week with more than 26,588 payment channels capable of generating $ 2.4 million, an increase of 39% over last month. Reeves said the orders came from all states in the United States.
"It was pretty uniform all over the country, which was great to see," he said.
After the fold lightning integration, Reeves announced that the start-up was planning to launch mobile versions of the Fold app for Android and iOS. The seven-person start-up, created by Ventures Thesis, is currently raising a series A round and is looking to diversify its retail brand offerings.
According to Reeves, Fold currently serves 1,500 monthly users, facilitating approximately 35,000 bitcoin transactions since the launch of the first version of the application in 2014. Up to now, the project, largely moored, was funded by a small seed of Boost VC. Reeves said his project was to create partnerships with crypto wallet startups for direct integrations.
"The biggest barrier to conversion was setting up a new windshield," said Reeves, adding that there were about 1,500 orders but a conversion rate of only 10%, because users had trouble using bitcoin portfolios activated by lightning.
"We have learned that to develop the lightning ecosystem, we not only need the best products, but also the best education," said Reeves. "We will incorporate this into our plan in the future."
Beyond portfolio integrations, Reeves said Fold was also working in partnership with Casa's conservation solution startup, for direct integration with the Casa browser extension so that hardware node owners could also be able to access the desktop. Use to buy pizzas.
The Fold team is far from the only one to push lightning towards traditional adoption.
February 2019 also saw the launch of Koala Studio with its ultra-powerful chess game, allowing users to bet with very small amounts of bitcoins. In addition, Lightning users have already completed 3,536 tasks through the Bitcoin-based, LND Work-based independent work site.
Meanwhile, Square CEO Jack Dorsey said in a recent podcast that his company's cash application would incorporate lighting features at some point. The diversity of projects related to this protocol makes Reeves even more optimistic about the possibilities that it offers in 2019.
Speaking about the partnership with Casa, Reeves said:
"We look forward to working with this team to spread lightning to the rest of the world."
Domino's Pizza image via Shutterstock
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