Bitrefill bets big on Bitcoin Lightning Network, becomes one of the largest node operators

Bitrefill, a crypto-centered service provider that offers mobile prepaid refills and over 750 gift cards which can be paid in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, dogecoin, litecoin and lightning payments across 170+ countries. The crypto-centric service provider is focused on making crypto use for daily needs a reality. The firm has also become one of the largest Lightning node operators and currently offers 3 lightning products with many more in the pipeline.

Back in 2017 when Steam discontinued Bitcoin payments for its services, Bitrefill turned out to be a savior for these users by offering Steam gift cards for Bitcoin. However, recently the firm is going big on the lightning network with one of the largest payment channel and operational node under its belt. The firm currently offers three lighting based products while many more are in the pipeline.

During an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Sergej Kotliar the CEO of the firm talked about the importance of privacy and the freedom of the customer to buy products however they want on the motive behind starting the company.

Bitrefill’s business structure is centered around crypto micropayments, and thus it was a no big surprise that they became one of the first adopters of newly released “First 1 BTC Lightning Channel.” Kotliar said that lightning is an evolving and exciting tech and suits perfectly with their business model. Bitcoin network’s scalability issues make it extremely difficult to use for micro-payments since in certain cases the transaction fee exceed the actual cost of the product.

Kotliar explained,

” Lightning is a promising technology for a business like ours, and despite the issues surrounding it, we are consistently trying to become the best at running it. The main focus is to contribute to the building blocks of crypto-centric economy and we are trying to connect more people to this ecosystem with our various products.”

Lightning Network is a second layer scalability solution, which allows for making micro-payments on top of the Bitcoin network. The early adopters of the tech complained about it being technically flawed and quite complicated to use, however in recent times, many of those issues have been addressed. The adoption is one the rise with the total number of public nodes reaching 10,000. Crypto-centric service providers like Bitrefill is helping the lightning network to gain some mainstream viability.