With cryptocurrency booming, we are starting to see almost every single financial service that was previously only available for fiat currency also appearing for crypto. Startups everywhere are aiming to make the usage of cryptocurrency in our daily lives easier. Lastbit is one such startup.
Lastbit aims to act as a payment network. According to the company, their aim is to be as big as VISA, Mastercard, and other major players in the industry. In order to do this, Lastbit makes use of the Bitcoin Lightning Network to allow users to transact in both fiat and cryptocurrency. As of writing, the company is still in its initial stage, but it has two products that already seem revolutionary if implemented properly.
Summary: What is Lastbit?
Lastbit is a fintech startup building a payment network leveraging the Bitcoin Lightning network. Today, Lastbit provides a service as proof of concept that allows you to send and receive both Bitcoin and Euros instantly. With Lastbit, you have complete freedom over how the transaction takes place. You can send payments to anyone using the lightning network or the blockchain.
The Bitcoin lightning network is an off-chain network that processes Bitcoin transactions outside of the Blockchain. There are numerous safeguards built in to ensure that no nefarious transactions take place and double-spending does not occur.
While the lightning network has numerous pros and cons, one of its biggest advantages is that it can process transactions almost instantly. On top of that, the fees for sending Bitcoin over the network are also quite low, thereby making it possible for you to send smaller amounts of Bitcoin without having to worry about astronomical fees.
Lastbit has two different products right now: Lastbit Lite and Lastbit Cards. Lastbit Lite allows you to send payments in Bitcoin and Euros anywhere you want. You can also receive payments by creating an account on lastbit.me. Just remember that it is not possible to receive payments in USD at this time. Lastbit plans to expand to the US once its rollout in the EU is complete. The company aims to achieve this sometime in 2022, after acquiring a new round of funding.
Lastbit Cards allows you to make payments on any POS terminal where MasterCard payments are accepted. You can add funds to your card through the lightning network, and the card can be used to spend both Bitcoin and Euros. Like every other cryptocurrency card, you also earn rewards on your card by spending Bitcoin.
You have the option of either getting a physical card or creating virtual card numbers that allow you to make purchases online. This grants you a lot of flexibility over how you make crypto payments.
Lastbit Features
Both of Lastbit products are not particularly feature-rich. However, the features that they do provide will be extremely useful to someone that wants to make crypto transactions regularly.
- Send Bitcoin and Euros to anyone across the world
- Receive crypto payments by creating an account
- 2 mobile apps (Lastbit Lite and Lastbit Cards) for managing your payments
- Get a MasterCard to spend your Bitcoin. You can create virtual card numbers or apply for a physical card
- 3% rewards on all crypto expenditure through your card
- Low fees relative to blockchain transactions
- Crypto transactions are instantaneous due to the lightning network.
- You still have the choice of performing standard on-chain transfers
- Easy setup that takes less than a few minutes to get going
Lastbit is all about speed and overcoming the shortcomings of the Bitcoin blockchain. So, how much do you need to pay to get these services? Let’s find out!
Lastbit Pricing
Almost everything offered by Lastbit is free. As per the words of the company, you are charged a tiny amount when you purchase Euros or when you convert Euros to Bitcoins and vice versa. All the fees that you need to pay are visible on the transaction page i.e. there are no hidden fees.
There are no fees involved when using your card or topping it up. However, there is a monthly limit of €15,000 on your Lastbit account. Also, there is a €5,000 monthly withdrawal limit on your ATM card, with a daily limit of €500.
Lastbit Privacy and Security
Lastbit claims that transactions taking place on the lightning network are more secure as compared to the Bitcoin blockchain if done correctly. This is because it is possible for law enforcement and other agencies to track transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain as all transactions are recorded.
Since transactions on the lightning network take place off the chain, it is not as easy to track the transactions.
As for legitimacy, Lastbit is backed by many of the biggest players in the crypto world. Apart from YCombinator, and the SkyDeck Venture Capital fund of UC Berkeley (where Bernardo, one of the founders studied), Lastbit is also backed by Binance Fellowship, Fulgur Ventures, and Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, among others.
The Lastbit MasterCard is provided by Paynetics AD and has all the security features that are found in a regular MasterCard. As such, unless someone is able to steal your credentials, you should not have a problem with security.
Lastbit Support
Apart from having a robust support page that can answer most of your questions about Lastbit, there are two additional ways for you to reach out to the support team.
You can either e-mail the team and open a ticket, or you can use the live chat feature from within the Lastbit app. Due to the fact that Lastbit is relatively new and has not been used by a lot of people, it is difficult to ascertain how competent the support team is. In our experience, our queries were dealt with in a timely manner, and the support team was able to satisfy any questions we had about Lastbit.
Conclusion
Lastbit is still in its infancy, and there is a long way to go before the platform is complete. US residents cannot make use of Lastbit right now. However, EU residents that need to make regular fiat and crypto payments would benefit from Lastbit quite a bit due its extremely low fees. Also, those that want to spend their crypto on a regular basis will find the virtual and the physical MasterCard to be quite useful. Both of Lastbit’s apps are important for any crypto enthusiast, and they will only get better from here on out.