Published
3 years ago on
May 18, 2020
Table of Contents
- The RIF Lumino Payments Network, a competitor to Lightning Network, has today scaled up its offering with the introduction of a Light Client.
- The network’s operator, IOV Labs, has confirmed that Lumino will enable off-chain payment capabilities for any ERC20-compliant tokens deployed on its platforms.
The RIF Lumino Payments Network, a competitor to Lightning Network, has today scaled up its offering with the introduction of a Light Client. The network’s operator, IOV Labs, has confirmed that Lumino will enable off-chain payment capabilities for any ERC20-compliant tokens deployed on its platforms. IOV Labs operates a stack, including second- and third-layer solutions RSK and RIF, based on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The Lumino Network, which is based on RIF, is capable of processing 100 transactions per second, with the capacity to scale up to 20,000. It works in a similar way to the Lightning Network, using off-chain payment channels so that parties can transact instantly without having to wait for block confirmations.
The launch of the Light Client enables a developer to integrate Lumino without needing to run a full node. Once they incorporate the Light Client into their dApp, users only need an internet connection and mobile device to carry out payment transactions.
A Push for Crypto and DeFi Adoption?
The company believes that under the current conditions, DeFi is going to be in more demand than ever before. Diego Gutiérrez Zaldivar, CEO of IOV Labs, is quoted as saying:
“The RIF Lumino Light Client will grant millions of unbanked mobile users access to micropayments transactions. […] Given the compounding of financial pressure and exclusion on the unbanked brought on by this pandemic, and the increasing accessibility of DeFi applications, we expect to see a whole new level of cryptocurrency adoption in the very near future.”
The launch represents a further expansion of the RSK and RIF networks into the burgeoning DeFi ecosystem. Last month, Money on Chain, which runs on the RSK layer, announced it was launching a new range of tokens, including a stablecoin collateralized by the RIF token.
In addition to attracting development on its platforms, IOV Labs has been pursuing the expansion of its own group. Most notably, the acquisition of Latin American social media platform Taringa in 2019 brought a ready-made user base of 30 million to the ecosystem.
DeFi is Breaking Out
Although DeFi has been steadily gaining traction since around 2018, it’s had a heavy focus on Ethereum, almost to the exclusion of all other platforms. 2020 is the year that DeFi is finally starting to embed across other platforms.
For example, a DeFi startup called General Protocols has recently raised over $1 million in seed funding to start developing a DeFi product on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. AnyHedge is a derivatives tool that can be embedded in exchanges. They can then create new markets powered by smart contracts.
However, it does appear that Bitcoin-based DeFi is proving to be a hit within the cryptocurrency community. Last month, Anthony Pompliano’s firm Morgan Creek Digital was one of a group of investors in a $2.45 million seed round for a company aiming to offer Bitcoin-backed lending instruments. Atomic Loans is a Canadian startup that also gained backing from Bison Trails and ConsenSys in the same funding round.
It could prove to be a good bet. Since March’s “Black Thursday,” ETH locked in DeFi has been in visible decline, down to 2.65m from a previous yearly high of 3.25m. However, thanks to a whopping 1,000 Wrapped BTC (WBTC) being minted on the Ethereum network recently, Bitcoin locked in DeFi has jumped from 150k in February to over 320k today.
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