Coinbase Ready to Shock Binance’s Global Supremacy with Lightning Integration
Key Takeaways
- Coinbase CEO announces plans to integrate Bitcoin Lightning Network
- The US-based exchange is on its way to potentially becoming the world’s standard
- Rival exchange Binance may leave off to the east
In a recent tweet , Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, announced the company’s plans to integrate the Bitcoin Lightning Network into the platform.
The announcement comes at a time when Coinbase is making strides to establish its dominance in the crypto market by partnering up with key asset managers.
Following recent news, such as Ripple’s win against the SEC, Coinbase has been experiencing stock price surges, signaling a bright future for the exchange.
In the meantime, Coinbase’s main competitor, Binance, has been struggling to stabilize its operations in the West, showing signs of shifting operations to Eastern nations.
“Coinbase Onboarded More People Onto Bitcoin Than Anyone Else”
Armstrong’s announcement came after Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and former CEO, asked , “Why do you continue to ignore bitcoin and lightning?”
Coinbase’s CEO responded by claiming that his company “onboarded more people to Bitcoin than probably any company in the world.” He also added that integrating BLT is “non-trivial, but I think worth doing. I’m all for payments taking off in Bitcoin.”
Moreover, Viktor Bunin, a Protocol Specialist at Coinbase, announced he’s heading the technology’s integration into the platform. He also asked followers and enthusiasts for input on “lift to add support, UX flows, open source tooling, service providers, and edge cases.”
CCN reached out to Armstrong and Bunin for commentary but did not receive a reply at the time of publishing.
Binance Is Falling Behind
The world’s biggest crypto exchange already beat Coinbase to the punch by integrating BLT about a month ago.
However, Binance, overall, is not doing well on the legal side. The company has yet to reach any positive outcome on its SEC lawsuits, including very serious allegations, such as wash trading and evading U.S regulators.
If anything, SEC litigation will likely lead to federal cases being filed against Binance and company founder Changpeng Zhao. CZ is seemingly preparing an army of legal experts to get him out of such a bind, hopefully.
Binance and CZ are even attempting to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the company by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
On top of it all, Binance has almost completely departed the European market. With the company exiting crypto markets in the UK, Germany, France, Cyprus, and others, it’s quite unlikely that it will return to the market.
Instead, Binance is now finding refuge in Asian markets as it expands in Japan and Hong Kong.
Coinbase Taking Lead
It’s not like Coinbase is free of regulatory litigation, either. The exchange is currently dealing with a lawsuit by the SEC of its own. The regulating body is claiming that the company traded in ‘unregistered securities’ and has already commenced hearings on the case.
However, Armstrong seems rather optimistic about the outcome of the lawsuit. He sees the Ripple case ruling by Judge Torres as a positive sign that Coinbase has a good chance of winning its own case.
Coinbase’s situation in the crypto market is hopeful, to say the least. The exchange now has its faith tethered to major Wall Street asset managers such as BlackRock who are attempting to enter the crypto market. The exchange has been named as a “surveillance partner” on multiple ETF applications as part of a plan to fulfill the SEC’s anti-money laundering conditions.
Considering the company’s current developments with the Bitcoin Lightning Network, Wall Street associations, as well as an upwards trend in the company’s stock price following Ripple’s win, it’s difficult to see how Coinbase would not eventually dethrone Binance to become the world’s leading crypto exchange.
