lightning-network
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The Hidden Toll Booth on Bitcoin’s Fast Lane
Lightning Labs helped make bitcoin payments fast. Then it met the less glamorous problem: someone has to keep the channels funded, balanced, and usable.
Bitcoin’s Fast Lane Is Getting a Finance Department
Voltage began by putting Lightning nodes in the cloud. Now it is selling something more ambitious: instant payment rails that engineers can call by API and finance teams can settle in dollars.
OpenNode
OpenNode is a Bitcoin payment processor and infrastructure provider that lets businesses accept Bitcoin and send payouts globally, settling instantly over the Lightning Network with automatic conversion to local currencies. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the company powers checkout, payouts, in-person payments and a developer API for merchants ranging from McDonald's El Salvador to Substack, charging a flat 1% fee with built-in chargeback protection.
River
River is a San Francisco-based, bitcoin-only financial services company offering brokerage, custody, mining, and Lightning Network infrastructure. Founded in 2019 by Alex Leishman and Andrew Benson, River serves individuals and businesses who want to buy, hold, earn yield on, and transact with bitcoin from a US-regulated, transparent, full-reserve institution.