Starting today, you can unlock the simplicity of your Bitcoin and use UMAs to send money across borders effortlessly. With UMA (Universal Money Addresses), you can enjoy near-instant, secure, and borderless payments in any currency you choose — traditional or Bitcoin.
UMA in a nutshell
Universal Money Addresses (UMA) simplify money transfers, making them as straightforward as sending an email. This means you can avoid the usual high costs and fees, the complexity of dealing with exchange rates, and the delays from processing times across time zones. It also reduces issues with limited access and the occasional human error.
Leveraging the power of the Bitcoin Lightning Network for real-time, worldwide transactions, recipients can receive their funds in either traditional currencies or Bitcoin, making it as flexible as it is fast.
UMA in the real world
Imagine someone called Miguel, who, for example, lives in Spain and regularly sends money to their family in Argentina for bills and school fees using UMA. Before UMA, the uncertainty of transfer times and the stress of expensive exchange rates could have been a major concern.
With UMA, those issues disappear. Transfers are swift and straightforward, eliminating the previous financial anxieties. This change would significantly relieve Miguel's family, allowing them to focus on what truly matters without the added stress of money transfers.
A closer look at how UMA uses the Lightning Network
UMA enhances LNURL and Lightning Addresses by including compliance messages and currency exchange features. This upgrade, along with the Lightning Network's fast settlement and Bitcoin's global reach, ensures affordable worldwide money transfers.
LNURL is a protocol that simplifies Bitcoin transactions over the Lightning Network, making them more user-friendly by enabling actions like payments and login without complex addresses.
Low fees for big transfers
The UMA network can end expensive and inefficient money transfers, serving key cross-border corridors and connecting millions of people. Transactions within the UMA network are almost instant due to the Lightning Network integration and can cost less than USD 0.1. For example, sending money from Spain to Argentina can be done during the weekend, without delays and with near-zero fees.
How Lightspark and Xapo Bank make this possible
Using Lightspark’s end-to-end enterprise-grade solution for UMA gives Xapo Bank members easy access to the UMA standard and the Lightning Network, unlocking global payments for a number of use cases.
This is crucial for people who, like Miguel, rely on our tools to send money to their family in Argentina, thousands of kilometres away.
Why not start today?
All Xapo Bank members who are approved can now use their Xapo UMA address at no cost and start transactions with others on the UMA network, thanks to the completion of our recent network integration. We look forward to seeing how UMA improves. For the moment, only UMA withdrawals can be made, and not deposits.
