Amsterdam, The Netherlands – October 12, 2023
Blockstream, the global leader in Bitcoin infrastructure technology, has today announced the public
rollout of its "Lightning-as-a-Service" solution, Greenlight. This launch aims to transform the way
developers and enterprise clients worldwide integrate fast, low-cost Bitcoin payments into their
software via the Lightning Network.
In the current landscape of Lightning payments, users face a choice between convenience and self-
custody. Custodial solutions offer ease but compromise on security and financial sovereignty. Non-
custodial solutions, while secure, demand significant operational expertise. The complexities of
running Lightning node software have long been a barrier to entry, often requiring users to
understand the network's intricacies before experiencing its benefits.
"The challenge is to alleviate this burden without compromising on security or functionality," says
Christian Decker, Core Tech Engineer at Blockstream and Greenlight lead.
Reimagining the Lightning Node
Greenlight's unique architecture ensures that private keys granting exclusive control of funds are
stored by the user and never shared with Blockstream's infrastructure. For an app developer, this
reduces the risk and liability associated with holding user funds.
"It's designed to let developers integrate Lightning in their apps seamlessly while granting users full
exclusive control over their funds," adds Decker.
Greenlight Is Now Open for Business
For businesses building on Lightning, Greenlight alleviates the challenges developers face in building
and maintaining Lightning infrastructure. By offloading these complexities to Blockstream,
companies can focus on creating innovative applications on the Lightning Network without
compromising on security or functionality, all while avoiding costly solutions, freeing up valuable time
for innovation.
Greenlight developer certificates grant access to the service’s API and are available via the Greenlight
developer console. To promote growth of applications that utilize self-custodial Lightning,
Blockstream is offering a free tier of access designed to empower developer experimentation. The free
plan offers developers the capability to deploy up to 1,000 “on-demand” nodes. Each on-demand
node is designed to “wake up” and remain active while in use by an end-user. For enterprises with
more demanding requirements, Blockstream will offer paid plans that expand the node limits and
also provides uptime and availability guarantees. Contact Blockstream to learn more about
enterprise pricing options.
About Blockstream
Blockstream is the global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure. Blockstream’s sidechain
technology (Liquid Network) enables trustless Bitcoin swap settlements and secure, dependable
smart-contracts while empowering financial institutions to tokenize assets. Blockstream Mining
provides colocation services to miners, across multiple enterprise-class mining facilities.
Blockstream’s Core Lightning implementation of the open Lightning Network protocol is the go-to
code for enterprise Lightning Network deployments on Bitcoin. Blockstream Jade is an easy-to-use,
open-source hardware wallet that offers advanced security for Bitcoin and Liquid assets. Blockstream
Green is the world’s most advanced consumer Bitcoin wallet. Blockstream was founded in 2014, with
offices and team members distributed around the world.