Nu Holdings, Latin America’s largest neobank, recently announced a strategic partnership with the universal payment network Lightspark. Their goal is to make Bitcoin’s Lightning Network accessible to Nubank’s approximately 100 million customers.
The institutional Lightning Network now accessible to nearly 100 million customers
Nubank, one of the world’s largest neobanks and the largest in Latin America, has turned to Lightspark to ensure “professional-grade access to the Lightning Network.” This collaboration aims to integrate the Lightning Network, the famous overlay of the Bitcoin blockchain, and Universal Money Addresses (UMAs) into Nubank’s platform.
Nubank, recognizing the trust placed in it by its customers, aspires to offer the best solutions available on the market in order to strengthen its long-term relationships with each of them. As such, the company is committed to simplifying financial management and empowering individuals. To achieve this goal, it intends to leverage proprietary technologies to create innovative products and services.
This ambition is at the heart of this collaboration. Lightspark’s technology is based on a network of SDKs and APIs, offering a seamless and simplified experience for using the Lightning Network.
These tools, supported by artificial intelligence (AI), aim to optimize not only liquidity needs, but also ensure real-time routing to maximize success rates.
With this technology, Nubank’s product teams can focus on creating the customer experience without worrying about the complexity of managing a large-scale Lightning implementation.
David Marcus, CEO and co-founder of Lightspark, praised the work done with the Nu Holdings team and said he was “delighted to enable Nubank to evolve its solutions” while making financial life “simpler and more efficient” for its customers.
I’m thrilled that @nubank has selected @Lightspark to bring the Bitcoin Lightning Network and UMA (Universal Money Addresses) via the @umastandard to its platform and customers. Now working with the Nubank team on the integration. Vamos! https://t.co/yDYJpNXlKR ⚡ pic.twitter.com/HYuuImG08u
— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) June 25, 2024
A small step for Nubank, but a big step forward for Bitcoin adoption
With the promise of an improved user experience, characterized by faster, safer, and cheaper transactions, this partnership represents a major step forward for the Lightning Network.
In addition, UMAs, which act as email addresses for money transfers, will make it easier to send and receive funds, even for users who are less familiar with these new technologies. Nubank is thus opening up access to Bitcoin to more than 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
The future integration of Lightning underscores Nu’s ongoing mission to deliver more efficient services with greater speed and lower costs through blockchain technology.
Thomaz Fortes, Executive Director, Nubank Cripto
The partnership between Nubank and Lightspark marks a significant milestone, not only in the evolution of digital financial services, but also in the adoption of Bitcoin in Latin America.
