List of Bitcoin Lightning Wallets to Transfer Bitcoin Instantly

Bitcoin faces a significant scalability challenge, processing only 3–7 transactions per second compared to private payment processors like Visa, which handle over 20,000 per second.

Several upgrades and forks attempted to address this issue, but a substantial breakthrough emerged with the Lightning Network.

What Is Lightning Network?

The Lightning Network (LN) is a Layer 2 solution built on the Bitcoin blockchain (Layer 1) to enable instant, low-cost transactions between users.

In essence, LN creates a payment channel between two users, allowing them to transfer funds without delays or high fees. While LN operates independently with its own nodes and software, it interacts with the Bitcoin blockchain for opening and closing these payment channels.

To use LN, users must lock a limited amount of Bitcoin into the network. LN then facilitates small-value transactions with minimal fees. Only the opening and closing of channels are recorded on the blockchain, making intermediate transactions faster and cheaper.

Since its launch, LN’s ecosystem has improved significantly, making transactions as straightforward as using an on-chain solution. Many wallets now allow seamless transfers between the Lightning Network and the Bitcoin blockchain.

List of Bitcoin Lightning Wallets

Electrum Bitcoin Wallet

Electrum is one of the oldest Bitcoin wallets, and it has existed since 2011.

You can download the wallet for both desktop and mobile (only for Android).

In both versions, Electrum offers the same features, like two-factor authentication, cold storage of private keys, multisignature, replace-by-fee, and more.

To further secure the Electrum wallet, you can connect hardware wallets like Ledger, Trezor, and Keepkey.

On top of all these features, Electrum also lets you open Lightning Network channels to send and receive low-cost, near-instant Bitcoin payments using their own lightning node.

At the time of writing this post, the Electrum mobile wallet had completed more than 500K downloads and had a 3.6-star rating on Google Play.

Wallet of Satoshi

Wallet of Satoshi is a custodial Lightning wallet available for Android and iOS users and aims to make Bitcoin payment simple.

With Wallet of Satoshi, you don’t have to complete the signup or login procedure or set up the Lightning channel. WoS automatically sets up everything for you when you download the wallet and load it with bitcoins.

Remember, WoS is a custodial wallet, meaning you don’t have any control over your Bitcoin deposits. The wallet uses your device as a “username” for sending and receiving payments; in case you lose your phone, you lose your Bitcoins, so WoS also has the option to sign in using email so that you can recover your Bitcoins.

WoS allows both Lightning and on-chain payments. When you scan a QR code (or paste it directly into your wallet), your WoS wallet will automatically identify what type of payment it is and will create the correct transaction type for you instantly.

The unique feature of WoS is wallet track and showing the merchants in your area accepting Lightning Network payments.

Breez

Breez is a non-custodial Lightning wallet for Android and iOS.

With Breez, you can make instant bitcoin transactions using the zero confirmation lightning channel support. Wallet automatically sets up a Lightning channel that is capable of receiving 1M satoshi when you download the app.

Breez is a non-custodial wallet storing Bitcoin on your device. If you lose the device, your Bitcoin also goes with it, but they have the feature to back up your lightning channel to Google Drive with encryption using a wallet passphrase.

The wallet integrates with many crypto platforms like Bitrefill, which allows anyone to buy gift cards with Lightning. And LN.PIZZA, which is an app that lets users pay for Domino’s Pizza via Lightning.

A new feature of Breez is Breez Point-of-Sale, providing merchants with a simple Point-of-Sale app to start accepting bitcoin payments in a flash.

Muun

Muun is a non-custodial wallet available for both Android and iOS users.

Muun supports a lightning network for instant transactions. To seamlessly interact with Lightning and the Main chain, Muun uses something called submarine swaps, which allow you to move from mainchain to Lightning without noticing.

The unique feature of Muun is its fee estimator and emergency kit.

Fee estimators help you get Bitcoin transactions confirmed fast without overpaying. Fee estimators estimate fees based on Bitcoin’s mempool, whereas other tools use previous blocks to calculate fees. So you can save an average of 30% compared to other wallets.

An emergency kit helps you recover your funds and access funds even if Muun is offline. The Kit is designed to fit Bitcoin’s latest scripts, including multisig, lightning, and taproot. You can export an Emergency Kit with your private keys and output descriptors to Google Drive or your local storage.

Phoenix Wallet

Phoenix Wallet is a new entry to the market created in 2021 by the French company ACINQ, which builds products and services for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Phoenix is available for Android and iOS users, providing fast Bitcoin transactions using Lightning Network.

The wallet automates the process of creating a Lightning channel and setting it up and also operates as a self-contained Lightning node on your smartphone.

Since wallets only offer Lightning services. So you can’t hold BTC on the main chain; the wallet only allows swap-in and swap-out features that can move coins between the LN and the Bitcoin blockchain.

Blue Wallet

Blue Wallet is a feature-rich, non-custodial Bitcoin wallet available for Android and iOS and also for Mac users.

Wallets support Lightning payment but do not automatically transfer on-chain payment to Lightning. The lighting network part of the wallet is called “hosted,” which is neither self-custodial nor custodial.

To run Lightning Network. Instead of relying on a self-hosted node running your device, the wallet uses LNDhub, which is an open-source, multiple-account plugin for Lightning Network, allowing groups of users to run different accounts with only one node in a trust-minimized setup. To make Lightning payment easier, the wallet uses the LNurl protocol, which communicates between Lightning wallets and external applications and third-party services.

As I mentioned earlier, it is a feature-rich wallet, so here is a list of features.

• Multiple recovery service that allows you to use numerous data points (e.g., mnemonic, private key, WIF, or other information) to gain access to their wallets.
• Multisig Vault, where multiple keys are needed to spend Bitcoin. Recommended for cold storage and large amounts.
• Transaction fee customization.
• Plausible deniability feature that allows you to define a different password, which will decrypt a “fake” wallet setup. For any situation where you’re forced to disclose your access or when you don’t want to show your genuine wallet.
• Create or import multiple wallets.
• The ability to operate your own Bitcoin full node (onchain and Lighting).
• Tor connection to enhance security.
• Moonpay integration to purchase Bitcoin and peer-to-peer exchange powered by Hodl Hodl.

Strike

Strike is a custodial wallet with Lightning support to make transactions available for Android and iOS.

Like other wallets above on the list, letting you control your funds and the Lightning node, but Strike stores and controls funds and Lightning nodes on your behalf.

In return, Strike allows seemingly fewer Lightning transactions using your Bank Account or Debit card. The payments are made automatically, allowing you to pay Lightning-enabled invoices directly (for example, by scanning a corresponding QR code) using only a bank account or a debit card attached to Strike.

Plus, you can withdraw funds from your account to your bank account.

Strike also allows you to convert your paycheck to a Bitcoin deposit without any fees.

Don’t worry about security. The strike follows all of the same security protocols for funds as commercial banking products do.

Final Thought…

These wallets make Bitcoin Lightning transactions quick, inexpensive, and user-friendly.

With features like instant transfers, seamless integration with the Bitcoin blockchain, and support for various crypto platforms (e.g., Hodl Hodl, Bitpay, and Bitrefill), they enhance the Bitcoin payment experience.

While some wallets may charge minimal fees, the convenience and speed they offer are unmatched. Explore the options above to find the Lightning wallet that best suits your needs!

List of Bitcoin Lightning Wallets to Transfer Bitcoin Instantly was originally published in The Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.