Spain’s largest bank, Santander, has thrown its weight behind the Lightning Network, saying that the Bitcoin payment protocol has the capability of processing 1 million transactions per second. According to Santander, this will surpass the capacity of traditional payment systems such as Visa, which processes 24,000 transactions per second.
Santander Bank, officially known as Banco Santander, is one of the largest and most prominent banking institutions in Spain. It was founded in 1857 in the city of Santander, Spain, and has since grown to become a global banking giant.
Santander Bank operates a wide range of financial services, catering to both individuals and businesses. Its offerings include retail banking services such as savings accounts, checking accounts, loans, mortgages, and credit cards.
With total assets of around €1.8 trillion as of the end of September 2022, it is Spain’s largest banking group and ranks among the 15 largest banking groups in Europe.
The Lightning Network is a layer-2 solution for Bitcoin that allows for instant, high-volume payments with very low fees. It does this by creating a network of payment channels between nodes where payments can be made off-chain and settled on-chain only when necessary.
Santander has shown interest in digital assets with its recent release of a Digital Assets 101 education series for its users. The series, which has drawn the attention of the Bitcoin community, includes a lesson on the introduction to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
Santander is among the long list of traditional financial institutions that have recognized the importance of digital assets, especially Bitcoin and its potential. HSBC became the first bank in Hong Kong to offer ETFs based on Bitcoin and Ethereum to its customers.
BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Invesco are also in the chase for approval for a Bitcoin ETF service in the US, while Caceis, a French bank, was granted permission to offer Bitcoin custody services. Also, it’s important to note that MicroStrategy has been championing the use of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network for institutions.
During its last event organized around discussions on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, the company, led by Michael Saylor, revealed a series of products designed to incorporate these two technologies into businesses around the world.
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Why Businesses should consider Bitcoin and the Lightning Network
