Taproot Assets released on Lightning Network

The internet of money is here, and it's bringing with it a major upgrade to global financial interoperability. Taproot Assets, a multi-asset protocol for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, has been released. It allows assets to be created on Bitcoin, and sent/received via the Lightning Network, instantly and with low fees. An example application is the creation and transacting of crypto-asset equivalents of the world's currencies, stablecoins. This can enable instant global interoperable payments for fractions of the cost. 

Stablecoins being transacted on the Bitcoin and Lightning Network is a big deal: $11 trillion of transactions were settled via stablecoins, in 2023 alone. In addition, 450 million users have access to Lightning through platforms such as Cash App, Coinbase, Nubank, and many more platforms. Call us biased, but we believe Lightning is on track to be the interoperable payment network for the world.

So, the release of Taproot Assets is relevant and applicable to every business on the planet. But the implications don't stop there.

Not only are Bitcoin and the Lightning Network facilitating instant, cost-effective, global payments to anyone plugged into the network, but Bitcoin and the Lightning Network can now enable a new application layer for a decentralized, open, permissionless internet. This is not a new idea. Decentralized platforms that enable transacting between different crypto-assets have already transacted over $2 trillion dollars in the past several years. So why did it take so long for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network to become a platform for builders of the decentralized economy?

Bitcoin and the Lightning Network as an open-source community and protocol, took a long view with a patient path forward, to maintain security and decentralization. Additional protocols like Taproot Assets give the benefit of interoperability to all participants in the Lightning Network, without sacrificing the foundation as the most secure and decentralized network. This is why Bitcoin and Lightning is getting adopted by billion-dollar fintech giants like Cash App.

Ryan Gentry from Lightning Labs summarizes this development succinctly:

“[...] the multi-asset Lightning Network will connect exchanges, wallets, and merchants with forward-thinking neobanks, mobile money providers, institutional market makers, and every other financial institution on the planet. It will be well on its way to becoming the world's default value transfer network, disrupting decades-old legacy networks like VISA, Mastercard, SWIFT, and more.”

It's an exciting day to be part of Lightning Network, but it's potentially alarming if you're on the wrong side of a disruption to global payment technology. You may be scratching your head and wondering where you even begin, and how to get started with your own Lightning infrastructure. That's where Neutronpay comes in. 

A little bit about us: Neutronpay is thrilled to be at the forefront of these developments on the Lightning Network, with an end-to-end solution to leverage Lightning via an API integration, without having to touch Bitcoin. Neutronpay’s integration also will facilitate access to Taproot Assets, and being able to transact with stablecoins on Lightning, as well as build DeFi apps on Bitcoin and Lightning.  We give the capability and liquidity to launch Lightning wallets and transact across the network. Think of Neutronpay’s infrastructure as a charging station for every transaction your business will need to run on this global interoperable financial network that is Lightning.

In the long run, you may choose to build your own Lightning Network infrastructure, and we would welcome it! However, it can take a long time, with specialized engineering, ongoing management, and becoming well-acquainted with holding and managing Bitcoin in the Lightning Network. But if you want to immediately get on-ramped to the future of payments, with ease, Neutronpay has a single API integration to get all the features of Lightning.

Reach out to us to learn more about integrating Lightning today, to enable instant, low-cost transactions including Stablecoins on Lightning: