E-commerce site Amazon now allows bitcoin spenders to make purchases via the lightning network. Crypto payment processing startup Moon announced today that any lightning-enabled wallet will now be used via Moon’s browser extension as well.
Nearly 250 beta users already used Moon to spend crypto on e-commerce sites before this lightning feature by simply connecting the browser extension to exchange accounts like Coinbase.
“[The extension] will pop up a QR code and it will have the lightning invoice, which you could also copy and paste if you can’t use the QR code for some reason, and you’ll be able to pay with your favorite lightning wallet,” Moon CEO Ken Kruger told CoinDesk.
Amazon itself will never touch the bitcoin, meanwhile, Kruger declined to say which traditional financial institutions will be helping to convert the bitcoin to fiat on the backend, which ensures that Amazon merchants receive fiat currency for their wares.
Kruger notes that by 2020 the lightning-enabled feature is expected to work on almost any e-commerce site, regardless of if the platform accepts bitcoin directly.
“There’s no direct merchant integration,” Kruger said.“We’re integrating with the Visa and Mastercard networks and we get a cut of the interchange fees that merchants pay every time they receive a credit card transaction,” he said.