Bitso — Latin America's leading crypto-powered financial services  company — has enabled the ability to send and receive bitcoin via the Lightning network for its more than  8 million users in the region. In this way, Bitso strengthens the resources that allow cryptocurrencies to be  used in use cases such as local payments, cross-border transactions, and remittances. 

According to the latest Crypto Landscape in Latin America report, 53% of wallets in the region hold bitcoin.  Additionally, the local currency trading pairs (FIAT) of Mexico (BTC-MXN) and Brazil (BTC-BRL) are the  most active in Latin America. This integration strengthens Bitso's existing flow by allowing its users to  receive bitcoin payments more easily and economically, exchange it for FIAT currencies, and withdraw their  money. 

"Lightning is the easiest way to send and receive bitcoin. It is very simple to use and almost instantaneous.  Also, the costs involved in the transfer are minimal, so we hope our customers will start taking advantage  of this alternative to use bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency in the crypto ecosystem," highlighted María  Fernanda Bello, Product Manager at Bitso. 

To receive bitcoin via the Lightning Network, users must go to the "Deposit" section of their app, select  "crypto" and then "bitcoin," and specify the amount to receive within the Lightning section. This will generate  a QR or "invoice" that must be shared with the person who will send bitcoin from their wallet, which must  also be compatible with this network. Conversely, to send bitcoin, the user must receive a QR or "invoice"  generated from the recipient's account. 

The incorporation of the Lightning Network has been a long-standing request from our customer community.  Making it a reality required the support of a solid and experienced partner like Lightspark, who enabled Bitso  to connect reliably to the Lightning Network. 

"We are excited that more and more people can send and receive bitcoin through Lightning. Bitso customers  will benefit from fast, instant, and cheaper transfers, and this is another important step for the Latin American region," said Nicolas Cabrera, VP of Product at Lightspark.