Bitfinex expands Bitcoin transfers via Lightning Network’s Wumbo channels

The Bitfinex exchange has added support for Wumbo payment channels on the Lightning Network to facilitate deposits and withdrawals of bitcoin.

🐘 #Bitfinex brings the Wumbo channel support to its #LightningNodes, allowing you to deposit and withdraw large amounts of #Bitcoin quickly and cheaply⚡

Find out all the possibilities that the Wumbo channels #LightningNetwork integration brings you⬇️https://t.co/NR47JZY0y7 pic.twitter.com/5lCXJeXtkB

— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) September 22, 2020

The platform opened three Wumbo channels, allowing it to bypass the Lightning Network’s inherent throughput limit of 0.1677 BTC. The limit of each channel is set at 5 BTC. According to the exchange’s representatives, these are the largest channels in the Lightning Network.

“Wumbo channels will allow users to quickly and cheaply deposit and withdraw larger amounts of bitcoin. This will give them an edge in trading,” according to Bitfinex.

Wumbo channels with the ability to ‘handle larger transactions and volumes’ appeared in August with the release of beta version 0.11 of the LND client from Lightning Labs. The previous limit of 0.1677 BTC was intended to reduce the risk of large losses for users in case of bugs.

“With this feature, users will be able to open channels with any Bitfinex node with a throughput of up to two bitcoins. For retail services and wallet providers, including Bitrefill, Lightning Markets and Lightning Labs – up to five bitcoins,” adds Bitfinex.

With larger channels, service providers will be able to cut fees and avoid the need to open many small channels, the bitcoin exchange says.

Bitfinex added support for the Lightning Network in December 2019.

Earlier in September the exchange participated in an investment round for LN Markets, a bitcoin-derivatives platform built on the Lightning Network protocol.

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