Kraken Supports Bitcoin’s Lightning Network After Delayed Launch

As part of its efforts to increase the use of Bitcoin as a means of exchange, Kraken has implemented the Lightning Network to allow clients to settle Bitcoin transactions instantly.

As a scalability solution or layer-2, Lightning Network is built upon the Bitcoin blockchain. It enables users to send and receive Bitcoins instantly without incurring any fees.

According to the company, the network can process millions of transactions per second — an amount greater than Visa’s 65,000 transactions per second.

The system of payment channels it employs does not publish intermediate transactions to the blockchain while they are open, but instead keeps them off-chain to allow faster and more efficient value transfers, according to Kraken’s statement. The multi-signature and timelocking features of the Bitcoin blockchain keep these off-chain channels safe.

“Lightning Network is a real-time system for Bitcoin payments, with a larger capacity than any other, as well as the potential to perform microtransactions at scale,” Pierre Rochard, a Bitcoin product manager at Kraken.