Coinbase CEO Teases Cheaper, Faster Bitcoin Transactions Amid Ongoing Battle With SEC

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the centralized cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase, teased the integration of the Bitcoin Lightning Network--the layer-2 scaling solution--on their platform, amid the ongoing scrutiny they were facing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Armstrong recently hinted at the possibility of soon making Bitcoin transactions cheaper and faster at Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchange platforms in the world, when he mentioned integrating the layer-2 scalability solution to his company's exchange.

"My tweets auto-delete after some number of months, so there is no search history," Armstrong said in a tweet over the weekend, adding, "Lightning is great and something we'll integrate."

The CEO's statement surfaced as a response to the tweet made by a Twitter user with the handle @w_s_bitcoin, who accused the executive of "actively ignoring" the world's first-ever and largest crypto asset by market capitalization, Bitcoin.

"It's weird how @brian_armstrong is actively ignoring the #Bitcoin Lightning Network. He hasn't ever tweeted about it. Not even once," the tweet read.

Unfortunately, while Armstrong seemingly confirmed the integration of the Bitcoin Lightning Network on Coinbase, he did not provide any more details or hint at when customers can expect it.

If Armstrong's tweet turns out to be true, Coinbase would join the ranks of Kraken, Bitfinex and OKX, all of which are large crypto exchange platforms that have integrated Bitcoin's layer-2 scalability solution.

Built on top of Bitcoin, the Lightning Network is considered the most popular layer-2 solution for BTC that intends to address the scalability challenges of the crypto asset by providing faster transaction speeds and low gas fees.

"With Lightning, we can potentially make hundreds of thousands if not million transactions per second and so reach any part of the World (almost) instantaneously," Lightning enthusiast David Coen wrote on the GitHub repository.

Armstrong's latest statement was positively welcomed by the crypto community and excited many personalities, including MicroStrategy founder and Bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor, who responded with three lightning bolts on the CEO's tweet.

Last year, in Twitter Spaces, Saylor mentioned his company Microstrategy would launch software apps and solutions powered by the Bitcoin Lightning Network, including a Lightning Network version of the browser, this year.

Bitcoin enthusiast Derek Ross responded by saying that the integration of the Lightning Network on Coinbase would be "phenomenal," tweeting, "Adding Lightning support for deposits and withdrawals would be phenomenal."

Armstrong's latest statement came on the heels of his confirmation that Coinbase received a Wells notice from the SEC, which centers on the company's staking and asset listing.

Bitcoin saw a 1.42% uptick over the past 24 hours, and was trading in the green zone at $28,331.49 with a 24-hour volume of $12,439,084,762 as of 5:52 a.m. ET on Monday, based on the latest data from CoinMarketCap.