There’s a new cryptocurrency sheriff in town, and it comes in the form of Spark Swap, a new trading platform powered by the Lightning Network.

The Lightning Network: Faster and Stronger

The Lightning Network has garnered massive popularity since it was first introduced thanks, in part, to its allegedly faster transaction speeds and lower fees. With Spark Swap, the Network has brought itself to new heights as the exchange announced a public beta launch of its services powered through Lightning technology. In the beginning, users will be able to trade both bitcoin and Litecoin.

In a recent interview, Spark Swap CEO Trey Griffith explained why people should “care about” the new exchange:

Fundamentally, this is about solving the problem of non-custodial trading, which has been anticipated and promised pretty much since the birth of bitcoin. Existing exchanges and trading platforms have offered, at most, two out of the three essential elements of a cryptocurrency exchange: bitcoin support, self-custody and execution and settlement speed fast enough for professionals. Spark Swap is the first to provide all three, which will make it the first non-custodial trading platform to actually challenge the custodial exchange that have dominated volumes for years.

Spark Swap initially began in 2017 after Griffith was first exposed to the speed and prowess of the Lightning Network. He left his job at a wealth management software firm and was motivated to start the company after he heard complaints from traders regarding financial swaps between bitcoin and Litecoin.

He states:

They were just frustrated by the fact that it takes weeks to pull their money out. By building Spark Swap on Lightning Network Atomic Swaps, we can get performance and currencies needed to build liquid markets without giving up control of your assets.

He explains that while for now, the system is starting through one initial trading pair, the technology of Lightning can be applied to virtually any cryptocurrency and all its volume. He also mentioned that Lightning encompasses everything crypto is about – it allows users to have full control of their assets.

Lightning Makes Everything Better

While the company has plans to list additional currencies in the coming months, executives are not ready to share those plans yet. Griffith also says that being a U.S.-based exchange means they must follow all federal laws and implement the highest regulations to keep customer data safe:

We’re based in the U.S. and want to serve U.S.-based customers, so we need to follow the federal and state laws and regulations where they are applicable. This is obviously an evolving area of regulation as we collectively grapple with how these new technologies do and should fit into the existing regulatory structure. We’re being relatively conservative with our rollout to make sure that we understand the regulations in certain jurisdictions before operating, but we do have in place a robust AML program as part of our overall regulatory compliance program.

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