Lightning Network gets physical form in Australia with Bitcoin ATM

The Australian city of Coolangatta has installed the first Bitcoin (BTC) ATM with integrated Lightning Network functionality. A new ATM has been installed at the Strand shopping center in Coolangatta and is now open to the public.

Bitcoin Lightning ATMs work very much like traditional Bitcoin ATMs, but the instant transaction capabilities of the Layer 2 Lightning solution save a lot of time. You can also buy his BTC in very small amounts. In most cases, you can buy Satoshi (sats), the smallest unit of Bitcoin. 1 satoshi is equal to 0.00000001 BT.

Currently, cryptocurrency ATMs settle transactions directly on the blockchain. This has its own limitations. For example, when the Bitcoin network’s miner fees rose significantly in 2017-2018, operators had to adapt to batching transactions.

In practice, this means that even if a user purchases bitcoin via an ATM, it will not be sent immediately. The operator has a process of waiting for other her ATM network users to use the machine before grouping transactions and sending them to multiple users at once in her single bulk her transaction. . This problem can be solved to a large extent with the help of the Lightning Network.

With Lightning, transactions are instant as operators do not need to batch funds. Users receive payments over the Lightning network as soon as cash is inserted. There is still some debate as to whether fees will be significantly reduced, but they are likely to be lower than on-chain payments.

Related: Bitcoin ATM installations hit record low in May, biggest drop since 2019

The recent introduction of Lightning-enabled Bitcoin ATMs in Australia comes as Australia overtakes El Salvador to become the fourth largest Bitcoin ATM hub in the world. Australia has 216 ATMs installed by 2023.

The total number of cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide is 38,602, of which 6,071 ATMs will be installed in 2022 alone.