Lightspark Extend - Lightspark

Lightspark Extend

Makes banking and payment rails compatible with Bitcoin

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Lightspark Extend enables banks, neobanks, digital wallets, and crypto exchanges to offer customers real-time, cross-border, fiat payment experiences. End users can seamlessly send and receive payments directly to their bank accounts through traditional fiat payment systems.

Global Compliance

Supports anti-money laundering, sanctions, and travel rule requirements.

Interoperability

Works with all Universal Money Address (UMA) enabled wallets, Bitcoin Lightning, and LNURL protocols.

Instant Transactions

Facilitates immediate deposits and payouts for end users.

Two Powerful Services in One Solution

Together these services enable our customers to more easily set up UMA-enabled wallets and create payment experiences for their end users.

Designed with Compliance and Flexibility in Mind

Simplified Know Your Customer (KYC)
Lightspark simplifies end-user onboarding with secure KYC information transmission.
Customizable Onboarding Flows
Tailored onboarding experiences that fit user needs while meeting regulatory requirements.

Simplified, Real-Time Payments Across Borders and Banks

A complete solution for streamlined, compliant, and real-time cross-border payments that integrates seamlessly with banking systems.

Instant Cross-Border Payments

Enables businesses to send and receive payments instantly, enhancing cash flow and eliminating delays.

Seamless Integration with Traditional Banks

Bridges Lightning wallets with US banking, enabling smooth, fully-fiat transactions.

Cost-Effective

Reduces transaction fees on cross-border payments, offering an economical solution for businesses.

User Experiences

Provides real-time bank payouts, improving user satisfaction with faster, reliable fiat transactions.

Scalability for Global Operations

Supports international expansion, with a simple implementation that abstracts crypto complexity.

Fully regulated

Addressing all compliant and regulatory requirements for any sending and receiving.

Interoperable across wallets, bank accounts, currencies and countries

UMA addresses support cross-border payments between different providers, currencies, and bank systems.

Participate in bitcoin payments without handling bitcoin directly

Partners are able to reap the benefits of UMA, without directly touching crypto.

How it Works

Pre-payment Verification

Compliance Checks

Prior to the transaction being authorized, Extend easily enable both the sending and receiving financial partners to conduct all required compliance, BSA/AML and OFAC checks on the relevant customers before any funds transfer can be initiated.

UMA Setup

Both the sender and receiver can be enabled with UMA, either created on their behalf by their virtual asset service provider (VASP) or created using the Extend flow, in order to send and receive funds via Lightspark Extend.

Payment Initiation

Payment Request

The sender enters the receiver's Universal Money Address (UMA) into the sending virtual asset service provider's app to initiate a payment. The virtual asset service provider then sends an UMA request to the receiving virtual asset service provider — in this case, Lightspark Extend.

Transaction Data Exchange

The UMA standard contains provisions to exchange information about the transaction such as amount, FX rate, and required compliance data like Travel Rule.

Invoice Issuance

As part of the UMA flow, Lightspark Extend provides the sending VASP with a Lightning invoice (denominated in bitcoin) that they can use to fulfill the payment.

Digital Asset Exchange

Asset Holding Setup

Lightspark Extend integrates with relevant partners to hold Bitcoin and fiat omnibus accounts at a licensed Digital Assets Exchange. The Bitcoin account maintains a float balance to support timely exchange of bitcoin.

Asset Liquidation

Upon receiving the Lightning payment, the Digital Asset Exchange is instructed to liquidate the corresponding amount of digital assets from the bitcoin account. These liquidated assets are deposited in the fiat account.

Bitcoin Transfer

Bitcoin is withdrawn in batches from the Lightning Node to the Digital Asset Exchange to manage float balance.

Recipient payout in fiat instantly

Fiat Payout

After the digital assets have been liquidated, Lightspark Extend immediately initiates an instant payout from the refunded partner bank omnibus account.

End User Receipt

End users receive local fiat currency of their choice in their denominated bank account

For Developers

Lightspark is developer-ready with our robust APIs and SDKs. With just a few lines of code, you can enable real-time global transactions for your digital wallet, exchange, or application.

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