In a press release published today, Launch Cart announced that it added an Open Node integration that would allow e-commerce businesses to accept bitcoin payments.
Launch Cart is an e-commerce platform that online stores can use to sell physical products, digital products, merchandise and drop ship items directly from wholesalers to customers.
The press statement reads:
“The payment system eliminates fraud, and chargebacks, and includes the security of Bitcoin’s base chain. It also eliminates the seller from losing money due to the fees and time to convert to a local currency using the Lightning Network’s growing ecosystem where hundreds of thousands of transactions can be processed per second at a very low cost.”
Open Node is already available as a payment integration for Shopify, the leading e-commerce software provider in the world. Strike and other bitcoin-based payment gateways integrate with Shopify as well.
Several bitcoin payment integrations also exist for WooCommerce, a WordPress-based e-commerce plugin used by many online stores.
With increased user-friendliness and availability, bitcoin and especially lightning payments could see increasing adoption among e-commerce store owners. Traditionally, e-commerce stores offer MasterCard, Visa, Discovery, American Express, Apple Pay and PayPal checkout options.
The downside of these payment methods is that the minimum transaction size is usually $0.30 and payment processors charge upwards of 1.5%-3% per transaction.
Final settlement of the payments can take days or weeks, with sellers often struggling with chargebacks and the possibility of having their payment gateways shut down with too many chargebacks.
The Lightning Network allows businesses to accept payments almost instantly without barely any fees, potentially allowing them to add 1.5%-3% to their bottom line without having to expand their business.
If business catch on and realize they can increase profits just by using a more modern payment network, adoption of bitcoin and lightning payments could increase dramatically among e-commerce sellers.
