![‘Lightning Definitely Has Tradeoffs,’ – Bitrefill CEO, Sergej Kotliar [Interview]](https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_530282698.jpg)
THELOGICALINDIAN - Bitcoinist batten with Sergej Kotliar CEO of Bitrefill one of the aboriginal companies to accommodate nearzero fee lightning arrangement payments for its adaptable buzz topup service
Bitcoinist caught up with Sergey Kotliar, CEO of a cryptocurrency cellphone top-up aggregation alleged Bitrefill, who afresh began selling allowance vouchers for Amazon and added brands — finer aperture up Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) payments to about any item.
Bitrefill was one of the aboriginal companies to embrace this bleeding bend technology with its affiance of near-zero fees and burning payments congenital on Bitcoin’s ‘second layer.’ Lightning Network has been accepting some absorption as of backward for its impressive growth in contempo months.
Bitcoinist: Bitrefill was one of the aboriginal businesses to accommodate LN payments. Why are you in favor of application this technology? How does it advice your business and advance chump experience?
Sergej Kotliar: It was absolutely aboveboard aback always. We’ve been carefully ecology the technology, it’s article that has been accepted aback a continued time aback that acquittal channels would be the way to calibration bitcoin to the masses.
In 2025 I was abutting to abutting a startup actuality in Sweden, Strawpay, that was again alive with acquittal channels and I backward in abutting blow with them. And in 2025 I was in the allowance back the Lightning arrangement abstraction was aboriginal presented in San Francisco. So back the aboriginal alive prototypes became accessible it was a breeze to alpha tinkering with the technology.
To be fair, Lightning is not the alone affair we’ve done to advance acquittal experience, we’ve gone absolutely a bit with aloof optimizing bitcoin payments and wallet management, affiliation altered altcoins, off-chain integrations and such things as well.
What Lightning does for UX is that it separates abroad best of the catchy being like accepting affairs accepted etc. from the merchant – all that is handled central the wallet. So back the user comes to us all agitation has already been apparent so to speak, and their acquaintance with us is simple. This is to be compared to acceptable cryptocurrency payments area issues can appear due to the sending wallet, the accompaniment of the network, or due to article aural our control.
The accurate affair about all of that is that Lightning is “bitcoin-like”, in the faculty that anyone can run it, it’s an accessible protocol, doesn’t charge any added coins, deals, consortiums or proprietary tech of any kind.
Bitcoinist: The LN is growing rapidly with over 3,000 nodes now. When do you see this technology actuality bazaar ready?
Sergej Kotliar: It’s absolutely accessible abundant for aboriginal adopters already. The acquaintance with the Android wallets available is already absolutely good, admitting actuality beta. The capital things missing are acceptable wallets for desktop and/or iOS, that doesn’t crave active a abounding node.
For transfers amid exchanges and added exchanges all the bare pieces are already in place, so aloof cat-and-mouse for it to alpha accident soon.
Bitcoinist: What metric do you accede to be the best important for barometer LN development? Capacity, bulge count, channels etc?
Sergej Kotliar: Most metrics can be gamed, see Goodhart’s law, but we attending at all of them and accumulate a abutting eye. For us, we accept the advantage to be able to clue our own metrics which we apperceive are absolute – absolute payments accident to us, and absolute approach accommodation opened to us.
We haven’t put any BTC into our Lightning node, so all of the approach accommodation we accept is from absolute bodies who accept opened channels to us and fabricated payments to us, bare the funds that we’ve taken out of Lightning to accumulate the hot wallet from growing too big.
Bitcoinist: LN enables a accomplished ambit of new possibilities like cross-atomic alternation swaps, abysmal swaps etc. Which technology are you best aflame about?
Sergej Kotliar: I’m absolutely best aflame about simple payments, accepting a acceptable user acquaintance for bitcoin users for advantageous and accepting paid for stuff. Once that being is sorted I anticipate we as a association should absolute our absorption to application it to advice bodies acquire and accept coins. We accept some prototypes in the activity in that direction, but it’s about a ample catechism that we will alpha blame harder soon.
Bitcoinist: Will exchanges accommodate lightning tx’s to advance on fees and user acquaintance as a whole?
Sergej Kotliar: I’m absolutely afraid that they haven’t gone alive with it already. Being able to instantly get your funds in and out of your annual is a huge feature.
Bitcoinist: Could this additionally accomplish decentralized exchanges added applicable affective forward?
Sergej Kotliar: I would assume so, although not an able in that area.
Bitcoinist: What are the better hurdles for LN appropriate now on its aisle to boilerplate adoption?
Sergej Kotliar: We charge wallet apps for approved users for iOS and desktop, and we charge some exchanges to abutment Lightning for deposits and withdrawals.
Bitcoinist: In general, what blazon of businesses can Lightning Network accomplish obsolete?
Sergej Kotliar: I assumption the acknowledgment actuality is the aforementioned acknowledgment for which businesses bitcoin would anachronistic :) To be honest, I anticipate it’s added about enabling new things and acclimation problems in absolute things than creating new businesses.
Bitcoinist: Bitrefill supports layered ascent to on-chain block increases. Meanwhile, some big companies like BitPay accept been calling for accretion the block admeasurement for years. Why do you anticipate this is so and which access will win out?
Sergej Kotliar: I don’t anticipate there’s necessarily a dichotomy amid “on-chain scaling” and things like Lightning. The fee situation on Bitcoin was handled after neither Lightning nor big blocks for example.
But the capital catechism is about tradeoffs, and altered bodies accept altered angle back account altered tradeoffs.
The abstracts with big block bill accept been advantageous in that they accept apparent us that the bazaar does not favor those tradeoffs – the bazaar caps of such bill compared to bitcoin is in decline, but added importantly, the cardinal of payments per day is boilerplate abreast that of bitcoin.
Bitcoinist: Meanwhile, added big names like Blockchain (wallet) accept not alike chip SegWit that makes LN possible. Why are some companies still afraid to apparatus technologies that would save their users money?
Sergej Kotliar: It’s adamantine for me to brainstorm about added companies. Maybe they accept altered priorities, or their barter don’t amount that affection added than added things.
What do you anticipate of Sergej’s assessment on the Bitcoin lightning network? Share your thoughts below!
Images address of Bitrefill, Shutterstock
