On Tuesday, Breez announced its latest partner, Yopaki, a Mexican neobank. Yopaki has integrated with Breez’s free and open-source SDK, which enables its users to have a non-custodial Lightning wallet without having to run their own Lightning node. (More on how this works here.)
Before continuing, I have to say that I get a little bit jealous whenever Breez makes such announcements, because they make me wish that Breez could partner with neobanks or Bitcoin apps accessible to residents in New York State, like myself.
The thing is though, we can’t have nice Lightning things here in the Empire State because regulation in New York — a state that seems to almost pride itself on its soul-crushing levels of red tape and bureaucracy — prohibits companies from offering Lightning services.
But anyway, where was I?
⚡️Welcoming Yopaki to (Nodeless) Lightning ⚡️
We're thrilled to announce @yopaki_ as our latest SDK partner. The bitcoin neobank is reimagining banking while sharing 🇲🇽 culture with the world.
Powered by Breez SDK – Nodeless (@Liquid_BTC) 🚀
— Breez ⚡ (@Breez_Tech) November 12, 2024
In the Bitcoin space, we frequently hear about the challenges Bitcoin faces in scaling and how Lightning isn’t a sufficient solution. Oddly enough, though, we never hear this complaint from Roy Sheinfeld, co-founder and CEO of Breez, because he’s too busy building things that prove the Lightning naysayers wrong.
Sheinfeld and the team at Breez, who are on a mission to bring Lightning to every app, have been on a hot streak when it comes to helping Lightning users around the world gain access to non-custodial Lightning services. Earlier this year, they announced partnerships with Volt in Nigeria and Diamond Hands in Japan.
We're excited to announce the beta release of Diamond Wallet, a self-custodial Lightning wallet that enables users to earn sats by viewing ads.
It's also the first self-custodial wallet from Japan, built using the Breez SDK and its Greenlight implementation.
Demo video↓ pic.twitter.com/kpsgfh3RGZ
— Diamond Hands💎🙌 (@DiamondHandsLN) October 1, 2024
Sometimes, when I’m alone, I look up at the sky and say to myself, “Why, God, why do Nigerians, the Japanese and Mexicans get access to such sweet monetary tech while my once great state — home to a city that refers to itself as the ‘financial capital of the world,’ but ironically doesn’t allow its residents to use cutting edge Lightning services — fades into obscurity?”
While I never get an answer, I do take comfort in the fact that the likes of Sheinfeld and the team at Breez are out there ensuring that nodeless non-custodial Lightning wallets are proliferating, enabling people to more easily use bitcoin as it was intended to be used — peer-to-peer.
I look forward to seeing Breez partner with even more apps and neobanks in 2025.
This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
