Bitcoin Lightning Transaction Completed Between Nigeria & Zimbabwe

BitMari, a Zimbabwe based Pan-African remittance service based on blockchain technology, has completed a successful Bitcoin transaction using Lightning Network. The test transaction was completed with Tanjalo, a Bitcoin trading platform in Nigeria. This has opened doors for quick, easy, and low cost Bitcoin transactions between the African countries.

Tanjalo’s co-founder and CTO, Tim Akinbo, sent $15 in Bitcoin from from Nigeria to Zimbabwe using the BitMari platform.

BitMari enables people from any corner of the world to send money to Zimbabwe, using blockchain technology. It is also the only company in the world to receive a money transfer license from the central bank of Zimbabwe and have a strategic partnership with Agribank to perform remittances for their customers using Bitcoin.

BitMari co-founder, Sinclair Skinner, said

“BitMari’s quick adoption of Lightning is active use of Bitcoin and blockchain technology to solve real-world challenges facing Africans on the continent and in the diaspora; such as costly remittance fees.”

Akinbo has also posted a video explaining the transaction process.

BitMari

The importance of this facility can be understood from the message put up on the website of BitMari

“International average cost of remittance is approximately 7% yet, the cost of sending money to and from Africa can be as high as 20%. 20% is $2 out of every $10. These $2 may mean very little to you and I but in some areas of Africa, it could be the cost of a daily grocery trip.”

Bitmari has also launched the first ever Blockchain based accelerator for women farmers in Africa.

Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is a “second layer” payment protocol that operates on top of Bitcoin blockchain. It enables instant transactions between participating nodes. It is perceived as a solution to the Bitcoin scalability problem.

We can expect a huge demand for the service in Africa in the near future.