Bitcoin Advocate Raises Bet Over Lightning Network To Raise BTC Awareness

by · December 6, 2022

A Bitcoin (BTC) advocate on Twitter known as ShireHodl, or simply Shire, sent over 110 micropayments to first-time Bitcoin Lightning users in response to Michael Saylor’s Lightning Network pool.

Shire asked those new to Lightning to download a Lightning wallet from the App Store or Google Play Store and send him a QR invoice. To pay the invoice, Shire scanned the code with its camera and the Bitcoin Lightning Network did the rest. In the tweet, Shire said he would send 1,000 sats to as many people as he can be bothered before falling asleep.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Shire said he has “sent out about 110 payments of 1,000 rate.” Rate is short for Satoshis, or the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin. There are 100 million Satoshis in 1 Bitcoin. Shire said:

“It’s not much, maybe $20 total, but the total fee is less than a dime. Using a credit or debit card, the fees would be more than the value transferred, so it would be impossible.”

In total, Shire sent over 110 micropayments – effectively bringing in 110 new users to the Lightning Network. The business owner took Bitcoin Lightning’s adoption into his own hands because he recognized that many Bitcoin users had not used Lightning before.

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Microstrategy, asked over 60,000 people if they had used Bitcoin Lightning in a poll:

Source: Twitter

The results of the Michael Saylor investigation inspired Shire to take action. He told Cointelegraph, “60% of respondents in his poll said they have never used a lightning wallet, so this was a small incentive to try it.”

Also, I knew the fees would be minimal and the people participating would be all over the world, demonstrating how LN is borderless and will enable micropayments for all kinds of future applications.

Indeed, in recent news, the Lightning Network has been used to facilitate cross-border payments across Africa.

Related: Bitcoin without Internet: The SMS service allows you to send BTC with a text

Shire, a Bitcoin maximalist, added that his experiment and onboarding masterclass only works with Bitcoin: “This can’t be done with shitcoins either. The fees are higher, the settlement takes longer.”

“You need instant settlement on an asset with deep liquidity to be able to scale this to the world and its applications. Only Bitcoin is able to fulfill this role.”

Shire aims to continue sending Satoshis over Lightning to demonstrate that Bitcoin can become global money one day.