Crypto exchange OKEx announced on April 19 its long-awaited integration of the Lightning Network, which will enable instant and cheaper off-chain BTC transfers. The feature – which is now live on the OKEx website – will further improve users’ trading experience and speed up withdrawals and deposits.
The self-proclaimed industry leader in cryptocurrency trading says the move will push down the price of transactions. According to YCharts, the average cost of a Bitcoin transaction is approximately $11. On top of that, as more and more users have been joining the network, waiting for 10-30 minutes to confirm transactions has become highly impractical.
OKEx promises to push the prices down to less than 0.01 cent per transaction and reduce the average confirmation time between one and three seconds. However, even though this is very encouraging, there are certain limitations to the whole experience. Namely, even though there are no deposit limits, there is a cap on BTC withdrawals. As this integration is intended for micro-transactions, the transaction limit is 0.05 BTC, which is around $2,830 according to current rates.
The Lightning Network is a Layer-2 scaling solution for BTC transactions that has been expanding its circle of crypto exchange supporters. OKCoin, Kraken, Bitfinex, and Bitstamp, among others, have plans to support the feature or have already begun doing so.
OKEx is one of many cryptocurrency exchange platforms on the market, with more than 20 million traders in more than 200 countries. Headquartered and licensed in Malta, it was founded in 2014 and conceived as a one-stop shop for regular trading, derivatives trading, and crypto and futures exchange.
Bundled with the Lightning Network, with speedy and significantly cheaper transactions, OKEx promises to be the game-changer on the market. Sending and receiving BTC at low cost and in near real-time has been a dream for many. Is it soon to become a reality?