News

Lightning Publisher for WordPress Turns Content Creators Into Publishers

Adam James · @Shasdam | Mar 25, 2018 | 08:00

---

Blockstream has announced Lightning Publisher for WordPress, the company’s second new Lightning App (LApp) meant to test its new micropayment processing system for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.

Be Your Own Publisher

In an announcement made on March 23rd, Blockstream — a leading provider of blockchain technologies — revealed its second new Lightning App (LApp).

The Lightning Publisher for WordPress is a plug-in which affords anyone the ability to become their own publisher by allowing individuals to collect payments for sharing their content on a WordPress system. Notes Blocksteam:

After an author powers up the LApp, readers will be able to preview an article on the blog, then can choose to access the full content by making a Lightning micropayment, which will be sent to the creator’s Lightning Charge server.

The Lightning Publisher for WordPress is Blockstream’s second LApp utilizing Lightning Charge — the company’s new micropayment processing system for the Lightning Network. Lightning Charge gives web developers the ability to easily create LApps and test Blockstream’s c-lightning implementation of the Lightning Network protocol.

The Lightning Publisher for WordPress follows WooCommerce Lightning Gateway, a general web-commerce solution released earlier this year, and FileBazaar, a pay-per-view application released on March 22nd.

As is the case with FileBazaar, Lightning Publisher for WordPress gives creators the ability to independently make money for their content, without having to rely on traditional advertising-based web revenue. Additionally, it puts more power into the hands of readers, who can decide which articles they want to purchase and instantly send micropayments to their publisher of choice.

A Lightning Storm Is Coming

The Lightning Network is positively surging in popularity this year, with over 2000 channels actively operating this month and investment in the technology pouring in.

Last week, Bitcoinist reported on how Lightning Labs secured $2.5 million in seed funding from donors, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Lightning Labs also announced its first Lightning beta release, Lightning Daemon.

Though the Lightning Network has only been available on Bitcoin’s mainnet since the end of 2017, it is already poised to revolutionize the online landscape in the near future. Wrote The Hive’s chief product officer Kamesh Raghavendra:

The initial deployments of Lightning will most likely be driven by exchanges and merchants dealing with cryptocurrencies.

We see an opportunity for Lightning to redefine the railings of global trade & commerce in the 3–5 year horizon.

What do you think about the Lightning Publisher for WordPress? How long do you think it will take for the Lightning Network to revolutionize the online landscape? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives.