IBEX, an infrastructure provider for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, has onboarded 85 new businesses to the network enabling them to accept bitcoin as payment through their point-of-sale (POS) systems, per a release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.
Previously, during the month of April, IBEX launched a pilot amid Bitcoin 2022 in Miami in which the company conducted a large-scale pilot program for merchants which allowed participants to facilitate over 2 BTC worth of transactions.
For IBEX, it made sense to launch the pilot at the largest Bitcoin event in the world, while in Miami, because the company sees Miami as inextricably linked to Bitcoin.
“Miami and Bitcoin were made for each other, so we’re delighted but not surprised at Miami’s appetite for our services,” said Ry Sterling, VP of North America of IBEX. “Miami is the closest thing Latin America has to a capital city, and with its resident population from Central and South America, there is a huge pool of potential Bitcoin customers.”
“Immigrants, especially those from countries with poor banking infrastructure, are among the earliest Bitcoin adopters because they can remit money home in bitcoin via the Lightning Network, quickly and far more affordably than with traditional money transfer businesses,” Sterling continued.
However, IBEX doesn’t only operate POS systems on Lightning for its customers. The company also offers an enterprise grade application programming interface (API) which allows business to trade in any currency, anywhere in the world, and all the business needs is an internet connection.
In addition, IBEX offers lower fees than traditional credit card operations typically run, giving an extra incentive to businesses.
“With transaction fees at 5% versus 2.5% or more for credit cards, Bitcoin Lightning lowers costs – savings that can then be passed on to customers, powering a virtuous circle of adoption,” Sterling explained. “What happens in Miami today, the whole of the world will be doing in the near future.