Bitfinex Plans to Launch Lightning Network Support for Stablecoin Tether: Report

Major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is looking to launch the USDT stablecoin operated by sister firm Tether on the Lightning Network (LN), crypto news outlet The Block reported on May 31.

Per the report, Bitfinex’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino told the outlet that the company plans to launch USDT on LN later this year. To pursue this objective, the firm reportedly joined the RGB open source development project.

According to its GitHub repository, the RGB project is “a completely free, open-source, non-profit and community-oriented effort, promoted by the BHB Network and aimed at the development of standards and best practices to issue, transmit and store ‘Bitcoin-based non-bitcoin assets.’” The Block also cited Ardoino commenting on the development, saying it is “one of the coolest things” the firm has participated in thus far.

The company’s CTO further noted  Bitfinex wants to contribute to the LN’s development. A post released by Tether in April 2017 shows that the company already had such plans for the stablecoin at the time.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier this week, Tether has announced that it is partnering with EOS parent company Block.one to release its stablecoin on the EOS blockchain.

Recently news broke that social media giant Facebook has reportedly held talks with major United States-based crypto exchanges about the issuance of its long-rumored stablecoin dubbed Globalcoin.