Jack Dorsey’s Block launches Lightning Network division at TBD

TBD, a Bitcoin-focused subsidiary of Jack Dorsey’s Block, announced the launch of a division to develop the Lightning Network ecosystem for micropayments named s=.

⚡️hello world. meet TBD’s @c_equals: https://t.co/j5ZYJmtS3J #lightning

— TBD (@TBD54566975) March 2, 2023

“Lightning is huge. Fast, cheap bitcoin payments are the future, and we’re building the infrastructure to be a part of it,” the team said in s=.

Lightning is huge– fast, cheap bitcoin payments are the future, and we’re building the infrastructure to be a part of it.

— c = (@c_equals) March 2, 2023

Management noted that one of LN’s bottlenecks is a lack of liquidity, which often leads to transaction failures. The platform will address this by providing the necessary liquidity. According to Bitcoin Magazine, Block will mobilise its bitcoin reserves for this purpose.

“Lightning, one thing is clear — it isn’t easy. It may be difficult to obtain liquidity from reliable nodes when you need it, which hinders payments. We want you to be able to send and receive them easily and reliably over the network,” the team noted.

One thing is clear about Lightning, it’s not easy. Liquidity from reliable nodes can be hard to come by when you need it, making payments difficult. We want to make it easy and reliable for you to send and receive payments over Lightning.

— c = (@c_equals) March 2, 2023

The s= division said it also plans to serve as a LN connectivity service provider for businesses and end users. The division will work on developing other services and tools to expand the protocol’s ecosystem.

Block (then Square) created Bitcoin-focused ‘daughter’ TBD in July 2021. The company says its aim is to create an open platform for developers of non-custodial, inclusive, and decentralised financial services.

Earlier in September 2022, TBD and the operator USDC firm Circle agreed on a partnership to promote the use of the stablecoin in savings and cross-border settlements.