Lightning Network is being used to receive payments for Africa Bitcoin Conference

The tickets can be bought digitally on the official ABC website.

Lightning Network is being used to receive payments for Africa Bitcoin Conference

Bitnob’s Lightning-powered ticketing service will be used for the upcoming inaugural Africa Bitcoin Conference (ABC), which will happen from Dec. 5 to Dec. 7 in Accra, Ghana.

ABC will bring stakeholders from Africa and beyond together to discuss blockchain adoption on the continent. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is one of the event speakers.

The details

  • Bitnob is an African startup building Bitcoin-based financial products.
  • The company initially launched its ticketing service in August, providing event organizers a way to serve entities that prefer to pay with cryptocurrency.
  • Bitnob’s products primarily use the Lightning Network to settle transactions.

What is the Lightning Network?

The Lighting Network is an example of what crypto-nerds call a “layer-2” network, which is used to settle transactions outside the main “layer-1” blockchain. The Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains are examples of layer-1s.

Layer-2 networks generally help users avoid network congestion on Layer-1s in order to conduct faster and cheaper transactions. The Lightning Network is used to send and receive bitcoin transactions faster and affordably.

Zoom out

  • The portability of the Lightning Network makes it a potential candidate for enabling micropayments in the event industry — especially as more events switch to a hybrid model.
  • Beyond merely using crypto as a means of payment, though, the events space could use the help of other blockchain-based products.
  • For instance, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been touted to have the ability to solve some of the event industry’s longstanding problems, including fake tickets, scalping, scams, etc.
  • For instance, an NFT can help event organizers track every ticket from the point of sale until the event to prevent malicious activity.
  • Nigerian blockchain company Blocverse currently offers an NFT-based ticketing product via its TixHive platform.
mb-weekly-icon

Signup for Mariblock Weekly

Stay up-to-date with the latest blockchain developments in Africa

Sent weekly, on Sundays. Read past editions

Already a member?