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Swiss Cafe Debuts ‘First Of Its Kind’ Bitcoin Lightning Network Orders

Wilma Woo | Sep 18, 2018 | 16:00

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A cafe in Switzerland has become the first in the world to release a self-service shop which allows customers to order menu items using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network (LN).

Coffee For (Lightning) Bitcoin

energyKitchen, located in the country’s capital Bern, has begun offering coffee, drinks and food items via an online shop and QR codes located outside its physical premises.

Arguably one of the simplest consumer-oriented Lightning implementations, the shop allows Bitcoin holders to pay directly using a Lightning Network-enabled wallet and collect in-store.

The tool came as a collaboration between energyKitchen’s Oliver Grugger and developers from local software development company Puzzle ITC.

Uploading introductory details on Twitter, Grugger added a video demonstration would appear “soon,” while one respondent has already created a representation of the order process.

So smooth, well done! Can’t wait to try it in Bern 😃 pic.twitter.com/GmCxawHbvz

— David Knezić (@davidknezic) September 18, 2018

The tool will only cater to Lightning-enabled wallets, contributing developer Gabriel Comte confirming non-Lightning payments with Bitcoin would not be possible.

“Until all wallets will support lightning natively – you need a lightning wallet like eclair from (ACINQ). No on chain payments accepted,” he wrote on Twitter.

Lightning Network Eyes The Mainstream

Lightning meanwhile continues to make rapid progress throughout the ecosystem. A raft of products aimed at non-technical consumers has appeared in recent months, while the size of the network itself similarly keeps expanding.

At press time September 18, Bitcoin mainnet Lightning had a total capacity of 114 BTC ($712,000), split across 3500 nodes with almost 12,500 channels.

As Bitcoinist previously reported, growth has accelerated over the summer, with July, in particular, witnessing a dramatic uptick in capacity.

At the same time, development continues to sacrifice user experience as contributors seek to make security and fundamental processes completely watertight prior to larger numbers of users coming on board.

The majority of Lightning payments worth over three cents were unlikely to complete successfully in June, research from cryptocurrency newsletter Diar revealed.

What do you think about energyKitchen’s Lightning Network tool? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter