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Mainstream media, CNBC to be exact, experienced the power of Lightning. The articleâs snatchy title says it all, âWe sent bitcoin from Miami to a Ukrainian in Poland who withdrew it as cash, all in less than three minutes.â The recipient was Alena Vorobiova and her face at the end of the video also says it all. Bitcoin developer Gleb Naumenko assisted in the operation, and MacKenzie Sigalos represented CNBC. She hosted one of Bitcoin 2022âs most interesting panels and was still in Miami when the experiment took place.Â
Spoiler Alert, this was the result:
âThe bottom line? It really does work as well as bitcoin boosters say it does.
The process of downloading a crypto wallet onto Vorobiovaâs phone, transferring bitcoin over the Lightning Network from the U.S. to Poland, and withdrawing the equivalent in Polish currency from a bitcoin ATM from the southwest city of WrocĆaw took less than three minutes.â
Thatâs the power of the Lightning Network for you. Letâs explore how the whole situation came to be and why itâs important for refugees everywhere. And for everyone, really.
How Much Money Did CNBC Send?
According to CNBC, âmoney providers often charge transfer fees of 10% or more when you send $100 from the U.S. to Ukraine.â However, as you mightâve heard, the current situation in her country is a little complicated. Sheâs in Poland now, in the city of WrocĆaw to be exact. There are fifteen bitcoin ATMs there. Luckily, at least one of them supported Lightning transactions, and:
âShe ended up with 170 zloty, the Polish currency, worth about 100,000 sats or $40. The ATM company took a fee of 10 zloty, or about 5.5% of the total transaction.â
Needless to say, thatâs the ATMâs cut. This might be the easiest, but, itâs not the optimal way to transform BTC into fiat currency. The Lightning Network fees âamounted to fractions of a penny,â and youâd better remember that. Itâs also worth noting that, âIn Poland, for example, there are more than 175 bitcoin ATMs, allowing refugees who fled with bitcoin to cash it back out for fiat currency.â
An advanced tip, though, is that you donât need a bitcoin ATM taking a 5% cut to transform BTC into fiat currency. The network is liquid everywhere in the world because BTC is valuable and sought-after everywhere in the world. People that understand it and have fiat currency want to exchange their bills for BTC. In any case, âthe process illustrates how refugees with no cash and no way of accessing their belongings can use crypto wallets for banking.â
BTC price chart for 04/15/2022 on Bitfinex | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
How Did This Whole Situation Come About?
As it turns out, the BTC that CNBC sent to Poland was originally from What Bitcoin Didâs Peter McCormack. Last August, he âtaught CNBC how to use the Lightning Network to make instant payments to anyone in the worldâ by sending them â100,000 satoshis, or sats (the smallest denomination of bitcoin, about 0.00000001 BTC) from his account to ours. The total transfer was equivalent to about $50.â
To close off the article, CNBC quotes a frequent Bitcoinistâs guest. The Human Rights Foundationâs Alex Gladstein tells mainstream media what we all know:
âMe sitting in California, I can still send you any amount of money instantly to your phone anytime. We donât have to worry about the fact that youâre a refugee. It doesnât matter that you donât have a Polish passport or a bank account. None of these things matter.â
Such is the power of the bitcoin network. And if you use Lightning, all of that can happen in a matter of seconds with fees that amount âto fractions of a penny.â
Featured Image: Screenshot from the CNBC video | Charts by TradingView
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.