Over 3,000 payments via the Lightning Network were registered at the largest German-speaking Bitcoin conference “Die Bitcoin Konferenz” according to Swiss payment processing startup Lipa.
The conference attracted over 800 attendees and the stage hosted renown speakers such as Michael Saylor, Saifedean Ammous, Rahim Taghizadegan, Nikol Jilch and Ijoma Mangold.
As a venue, the organizers chose Congress Innsbruck surrounded by beautiful mountains, in the midst of the breathtaking Innsbruck old town.
While tourists from all over the world were enjoying historic and mesmerizing ‘gold-standard’ architecture outside, the delegates inside the conference floors time traveled into the future and on to the Bitcoin standard. All merchants and food stalls accepted Lightning payments thanks to a new point of sale integration provided by Lipa.
Starting with an icecream vendor in front of the entrance that offered its ice-cold delights for just 10.500 Sats per scoop including waffle, attendees could spend Sats for every purchase:
A bystander asks “What kind of currency is that?” and the response by the ice cream vendor is simply “It’s a digital internet currency”. The camera man concludes: “This is sound money ice cream”.
Besides ice cream, attendees could enjoy local Austrian cuisine, coffee and snacks during breaks.
Matthias Tanzer, managing director at Donhauser GmbH, short DoN, the catering service in charge of all culinary services at the conference explains how smooth Lightning works for transactions:
B.N.: Did you expect it would be that smooth?
M.T.: No, I thought it’s more difficult but it’s actually very easy.
With over 3,000 successful transactions at the point of sale, the test is a full success for the conference organizers, the catering service and of course for attendees and Lightning enthusiasts.
The Lightning Network allows for astonishing transaction throughput, instant confirmation and low to no fees. The conference stress test is proof for the maturity of the Lightning Network which has grown from a niche phenomenon to a robust and fully decentralized payments network.
Although the Lightning Network can theoretically process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, the event in Innsbruck has broken a record for retail transactions in a single day on Lightning.
Mr Tanzer is looking forward to evaluate the roll-out of Lightning payments in other locations. Donhauser GmbH oversees more than 90 locations in Austria, among them Vapiano restaurants, gourmet restaurants, delis, mountain restaurants and high-value cafés and bars.
While the payment processor Lipa recorded 2,868 transactions over three days, many more Lightning transactions were made at the Lightning beer tap, the Lightning cocktail robot and merchants such as satoshistore.io
Lipa shared detailed statistics on their blog:
“First things first, we processed 2’868 transactions in three days — Saturday being the busiest day with 1’585 transactions. The biggest single transaction was SAT 249’809 and the lowest SAT 506. The exchange rate ranged between €19’375 and €20’258. The total volume was SAT 88’294’530 — roughly €17’500.”
Bitcoin News also reported about the increasing adoption of NFC cards for Lightning Payments.
