Square Crypto, the crypto division of mobile payment firm Square, is unveiling its much-anticipated plan to boost Bitcoin adoption.
The CEO of Square and Twitter, Jack Dorsey, says Square Crypto is building a Lightning Development Kit (LDK). The product is designed to give developers an easy way to integrate the scaling solution Lightning with existing and new Bitcoin wallets.
Lightning is a layer-two solution designed to work on top of the Bitcoin network to make payments significantly faster and cheaper. Square Crypto’s product will feature an API, demo apps, language bindings, and other functionalities that can facilitate the integration of Lightning.
Square Crypto is focusing on Lightning! ⚡️ https://t.co/boOiAAlLwc
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) January 22, 2020
Square Crypto says it considered a number of ways to supercharge Bitcoin adoption and consulted with dozens of developers before deciding to create the LDK.
“What we heard was a desire for flexibility when integrating Lightning. Wallets and applications require different key store and backup mechanisms, security approaches, UX tradeoffs, and more. That means the solution is building for more wallets, not fewer.
Although it believes Lightning is crucial to Bitcoin’s long-term success, the company says the technology is incomplete in its current incarnation. Lightning launched back in March of 2018 and has so far failed to see widespread use, with the vast majority of Bitcoin users opting to send and receive BTC without it.
Blockstream and Lightning Labs are supporting the project, and Square Crypto says it’s a “matter of time until instant, low-fee bitcoin payments are as common as cash used to be.”
