- Breez has launched its new beta lightning wallet for iOS
- They had previously launched a beta for Android
- This is in an effort to usher in the ‘lightning’ economy
One of the most heavily discussed crypto concepts on the internet in 2019 thus far has been the lightning network on top of Bitcoin. Word of the network has spread in part thanks to the viral lightning network challenge that was started on Twitter. The idea behind the challenge is rather simple; a particular user sends a Satoshi, the smallest indivisible unit of bitcoin. to another user who also adds a Satoshi and send to another user and so forth. The challenge was to draw awareness to the lightning network that is making rounds for improving on the speed and convenience of making payments using bitcoin.
The lightning network is currently at the top of its game and has seen more progress as on June 17, 2019, Breez announced that they have launched their beta iPhone app which, according to them, is the next step towards the lightning economy.
The Lightning Economy
According to the official medium post making the announcement, Breez believes that the lightning economy is the next step in the financial evolution and this is because bitcoin is superior to any other cryptocurrency and fiat currency itself but has simply been waiting for technology to catch up as it is easy to store but often stressful to move.
The introduction of the lightning economy through platforms like Breez will make sure that bitcoin can be moved almost instantaneously and almost for free. This will lead to a future in which traditional financial intermediaries such as payment processors and banks will be obsolete and people will simply trade with between themselves seamlessly and easily.
It also made mention of custodian wallets, stating that their charging of users for holding their crypto rather than giving them interest will have no place within the lightning economy of the future and that the economic works fluidly because transactions are off-chain and their users can run their own nodes or use a non-custodial client to connect to the network without charge. The economy will also mean that bitcoin can be used to pay for all expenses, both large and small.
Adoption slowly on the rise
Since the launch of their Open Beta for Android, it has seen hundreds of new followers and thousands of use cases. With that, they are now turning their attention to the iOS market which, combined with Android, reaches 98.01 percent of the mobile market.
iOS users will now have access to the full range of Breez features which includes P2P payments, creating and paying lightning invoices, choice of BIP 157 validating node, and a background channels watcher.
