Creator: Graham Krizek
Establishment Date: October 2020
Headquarters Location: Wichita, Kansas
Employee Count: 17
Official Website: https://www.voltage.cloud/
Public or Private Entity? Private
In 2012, shortly after Graham Krizek came across Bitcoin and subsequently started contributing to Bitcoin Core while developing his own applications on Bitcoin, he identified a challenge that was obstructing Bitcoin developers.
“The challenge I observed was that everyone was repeatedly building everything from the ground up,” Krizek revealed to Bitcoin Magazine. “There was no cloud platform where you could easily set up Bitcoin infrastructure and start programming against it.”
At that moment, Krizek didn’t feel rushed to address this challenge, however. He remained primarily concentrated on his profession as a software engineer outside the Bitcoin realm, working for various startups as well as large firms like Salesforce, while contributing to Bitcoin during his leisure time.
But something changed within him when he got to know the Lightning Network.
He recognized its potential and understood that it needed to be simplified for widespread usage.
“When I discovered Lightning, I thought to myself ‘Alright, this is the next stage of Bitcoin adoption, the element that’s really going to elevate it,’” Krizek stated.
“Then, I noticed the same trend occurring as with Bitcoin. Everybody continued to build from scratch while developing, but the complications were more pronounced since Lightning is considerably more intricate,” he continued.
“I was thinking, ‘We require a cloud service that allows you to simply press a button and have a Lightning node operating and managed for you.’ It can just exist so we can create applications and develop the projects we aspire to build with greater ease and speed.”
Thus, Krizek set out to create such a solution.
He shared the initial version with friends and contacts, many of whom utilized it to such an extent that the project warranted more of his focus.
“The utilization increased to a level where I felt, ‘Wow, I either need to cease this because I can’t sustain it any longer, or I must turn this into a legitimate business,’” Krizek recounted.
He chose the latter option, and by late 2020, he had established Voltage.
How Voltage Operates
Voltage simplifies the intricacies of utilizing Lightning by enabling users to deploy a Lightning node and establish a channel in just a few clicks.
While Voltage manages your node in its cloud, its public key, peers, channels, balance, and transactions all remain confidential, as all traffic routed through the node is communicated via Tor.
While your node is functional in the Voltage cloud, which is backed by Google Cloud and various other cloud service providers, Voltage also assists users in managing liquidity and provides other forms of client support.
Essentially, Voltage alleviates the challenges of engaging with Lightning, while concurrently supporting its users. This is done in efforts to facilitate institutions in more readily adopting Lightning. Krizek also noted they have new offerings and capabilities to assist even traditional finance firms with integration.
“The goal of Voltage is to make Bitcoin and the Lightning Network accessible to every business globally,” Krizek explained.
“Lightning is remarkable. It possesses numerous fantastic functionalities, but it can be quite challenging to grasp and especially to integrate for business operations — particularly for companies that might not be in the Bitcoin or crypto sphere,” he added.
“We simplify usage and integration.”
What Kinds Of Companies Are Utilizing Lightning?
In the past year, prominent firms such as major crypto exchange Coinbase and Latin America’s largest fintech bank Nubank have integrated Lightning into their operations.
Krizek anticipates that the trend of crypto exchanges, neobanks, and other financial service platforms adopting Lightning will persist in the upcoming year.
“Financial institutions are definitely going to be the primary innovators because if you can leverage the value of sub-second settlement with no fees and apply that to a major payment processor that handles global transactions, it’s an extraordinary value addition for their business,” remarked Krizek.
Furthermore, Krizek envisions companies outside of the Bitcoin, crypto, and financial sectors also beginning to utilize Lightning by 2025, partly due to companies like Voltage facilitating the process.
“2025 will be a significant year for branching out from our niche market,” stated Krizek.
“The technology has still been somewhat rough around the edges for a large corporation like Walmart to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to integrate this now.’ Even with Voltage, we haven’t been flawless all the time in making Lightning super user-friendly,” he added.
“I believe we have made significant progress in the last year, though, and we have much more coming.”
Another significant obstacle for companies wanting to adopt Lightning is the risk associated with managing bitcoin’s volatility.
However, that risk disappears if companies transmit Tether (USDT) over Lightning instead of bitcoin, which they will be able to do soon.
Tether (USDT) On Lightning
Krizek is optimistic about USDT joining Lightning, as he believes it will stimulate growth within the network.
“I anticipate that we will see a plethora of products and solutions surrounding it,” Krizek stated.
“It’s not merely me being personally enthusiastic about it. A significant portion of our clientele is very eager about it. They’re specifically requesting it from us because stablecoins are essentially the biggest use case in crypto today,” he added.
“When you pair stablecoins with sub-second settlement times and extremely low fees, that’s a massive unlock. With fees on Tron rising, people are seeking an alternative.”
(Tron has previously been the foremost blockchain for stablecoin transfers due to historically low network fees.)
As for USDT operating over Lightning creating a potential security risk to Bitcoin (as I believe it does), Krizek appears unconcerned.
“It doesn’t trouble me whatsoever,” stated Krizek.
“I believe that we’ve progressed since the Blocksize War in terms of takeovers, as I don’t think it’s as simple for a major institution to manipulate the Bitcoin ecosystem like some did during the Blocksize Wars,” he added, referring to Tether potentially acquiring undue influence over Bitcoin.
“Moreover, integrating something like Tether (USDT) on Lightning is even better because it operates on a peer-to-peer network — it’s not reliant on public consensus. Thus, you have considerably more control to say ‘Hey, if you don’t wish to engage in the USDT transactions, simply don’t participate.’”
Progressing In A Pro-Bitcoin Regulatory Climate
U.S. Cryptocurrency Czar David Sacks is an investor in Voltage (through his venture capital firm, Craft Ventures). This suggests that he possesses some understanding of the Lightning Network and the role of bitcoin as a means of exchange.
So, does this imply that the U.S. is on the cusp of accepting bitcoin as such?
According to Krizek, not necessarily.
“Everyone is currently imploring the government for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which considers bitcoin as a store of value,” clarified Krizek.
“Over time, we are certainly going to hear more about bitcoin as a payment method. We just need to navigate through this Strategic Reserve dialogue first and then ask, ‘What further uses can we find for this?’” he added.
The fact that the government is depicting Bitcoin in any positive context at all is encouraging for Krizek. Since 2012, when he first entered the Bitcoin landscape, the government has either disregarded Bitcoin or shown antagonism towards it.
“When I initiated my journey in Bitcoin, it was entirely ignored, and the previous four years have been particularly challenging for businesses like ours,” commented Krizek.
“With this new administration, we’ve certainly observed a shift in tone. We are still navigating certain issues, but we are undoubtedly turning a corner and moving in the right direction,” he remarked.
“I’m genuinely eager to see where that leads in the coming year. I believe it will be a favorable one.”
