Foreign media: Bitcoin holders can now shop on Amazon through the Lightning Network

Bitcoin holders can now reportedly use the Lightning Network to shop on e-commerce sites such as Amazon.

According to crypto payment service Moon, any wallet that supports the Lightning Network can spend Bitcoin through the company's browser. Prior to this, about 250 beta users used Moon to spend cryptocurrencies on e-commerce sites by connecting the browser extension to exchange accounts such as Coinbase.

It is worth mentioning that Amazon itself is not involved in this service. Moon founder Ken Kruger refused to disclose which traditional financial institutions convert Bitcoin into fiat currency in the background so that Amazon merchants can receive fiat currency from transactions.

Furthermore, Kruger said that “by 2020, the Lightning Network will be operational on nearly all e-commerce sites, regardless of whether the platform directly accepts Bitcoin.”

“There are no direct merchant integrations. We also manage the payment gateways, but we only provide a simple payment interface,” Kruger said.

He further stated: “We are integrating with the Visa and MasterCard networks and we can reduce the interchange fees that merchants pay when they make transactions,”

Moon was founded in New York last year and now has 30 employees. It received $100,000 in investment from Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator.

“As a company, we expect to continue learning from user behavior in 2019,” Kruger said.

“There are a lot of opportunities to help solve usability issues and get people exposed to the Lightning Network and increase adoption that way,” he said. “In addition, we will be talking to members of the Lightning Network community to understand what they are doing and whether there are significant gaps between the two sides. Wherever possible, we are willing to jump in and help.”