The first user mobile wallet built for the Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN) launched April 4 marking a further milestone for the technology.
Eclair wallet, released by technology startup ACINQ, is available for Android users from the Google Play Store.
Devices running version 5.0 or newer of the operating system can now send Lightning payments, which should notionally cost a fraction of regular Bitcoin network fees and confirm almost instantly.
“The Eclair Wallet is a next generation, Lightning-ready Bitcoin wallet. It can be used as a regular Bitcoin wallet, and can also connect to the Lightning Network for cheap and instant payments,” ACINQ describes its product on Github.
“This software is based upon eclair, and follows the Lightning Network standard.”
The release is just the latest in a series of major steps to mainstream adoption LN has made since the start of the year.
March saw the protocol’s first mainnet product implementation go live, with several more user-oriented tools since coming online from private developers.
The growth in options has been made possible due to SegWit technology gaining acceptance on the Bitcoin mainnet in 2018, this being a highly desirable background to allow LN to function at its best for Bitcoin.