Leveraging the Lightning Network for branding? Is that even possible? Voltage, a bitcoin infrastructure provider, makes a great case for it. Granted, their “Identity and brand on the Lightning Network” article is in itself a branding effort by the company. That doesn’t mean the information it contains is invalid, though. In fact, they probably hit the nail on the head with this one.

Related Reading | Lightning Speed: What’s The Lightning Development Initiative?

The company’s CEO, Graham Krizek, is the piece’s author. “One of the interesting things about the Lightning Network is that you as a node operator have a “billboard” (an alias) with which to advertise your node. The alias is a human-readable, and changeable value that people interacting with your node can see,” he says going straight to the point. The other factor here is time. Companies that start their branding efforts now will reap the most benefits in the future.

Let’s let Voltage explain what their thesis is about:

“The Lightning Network is still in the Innovator to Early Adopter phase of the Adoption S-Curve.  Despite rapid growth, participants continue to have a unique opportunity to use minimal effort to capture a large potential upside in value. The creation of a node in under 2 minutes allows companies and individuals to have a stake in the Lightning Network and leverage this to build differentiating brands.”

The keywords here are “minimal effort” and “under 2 minutes,” but don’t let Voltage fool you. Spinning up a node might be an easy and low-cost branding endeavor. Your company will have to keep it up forever to earn the trust it’s looking for, though. 

Branding Over Time And Space

The fact of the matter is this: if bitcoin becomes what it’s supposed to be, the companies that supported the network from the beginning will get a big branding boost. 

“As a decentralized network with public accountability, the simple act of broadcasting your alias allows for a compounding effect of time on the value of trust. A strong brand relies on consistent and honest performance over time. Running a node permits you to build that brand and immediately illustrate dedication to customer security, customer privacy, Bitcoin, and a long time preference.” 

All of this is nice and makes sense, but there’s something missing. The biggest alpha in the whole Voltage article is only slightly related to branding. It’s a sneaky piece of information that makes all the sense in the world.

“This brand display on the Lightning Network is a passive and effective means of showing support for Bitcoin. As the cryptocurrency space continues to grow more muddled and diverse, having a public statement in support of any one coin can become divisive. Running a node on the Lightning Network does not require any words to be spoken or any announcement to be made.”

Some companies can’t afford to be bitcoin-only, and that’s ok. However, if you want to avoid divisiveness, actions speak louder than words. Spin up that node and make a silent statement. The people in the know will hear your message loud and clear. That’s branding for you.

BTC price chart for 06/22/2022 on Eightcap | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

Early Adopters Building Trust

As we told you, the other factor here is time. “Strong brands require the humbling reality that time in the public eye building trust is the key to success. Early adopters compound this value of time to dominate a market,” Voltage says. Spinning up a node is the easy part, to earn the trust to open channels with other nodes takes time and effort. As all branding does. 

“Time-building trust within this network compounds through the availability of capital allocation. The Lightning Network rewards time and the building of trust by increasing the amount of traffic through the establishment of more channels. Rewards that leverage the network effect weigh the value of time heavily.”

In any case, one thing’s for sure: the time to act is now. For most companies, the Lightning Network is uncharted territory. It could become the primary way to send value over the bitcoin network, though. “The tremendous upside potential of building a strong brand in this uncongested space comes at the low expense of creating a node and capitalizing on time,” Voltage says. 

Related Reading | Lightning Speed: Open-Source Bitcoin Banks’ Fee Structures For Inbound Liquidity

It might make sense for your brand to claim terrain in the Lightning Network, in case it catches on.

Featured Image by Keila Hötzel on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

Louisville, Kentucky-based Dogebeans owner Andrew Lutes was all praises for Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and the community built around the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency. Benzinga talked with Lutes about cryptocurrency, the coffee business, and his future plans on opening a DOGE-themed establishment.

Community Was The Draw: For Lutes, it was the DOGE Army, which made him fall in love with the Shiba Inu. While he described himself to be “crypto-adjacent” since he had a lot of friends who were into cryptocurrency, he never quite understood it.

See Also: How To Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

As a DOGE investor, who entered the coin at 7 cents in January, he thought he was a genius when he sold at 12 cents, but Lutes said he had underestimated the DOGE Army — a reference to the coin’s following.

“I started doing lots of research on crypto and just fell in love with the Dogecoin community in particular. This was a community that is built on fun, memes, Doing Only Good Everyday, and was a perfect on-ramp into crypto in general.”

A Fun But Successful Experiment: After COVID-19 shuttered Lutes’ 78 Coffee Shop and roastery in November 2020, he turned his focus to the wholesale business. Turning to Dogecoin, he set up Dogebeans as what he called a “fun experiment for e-commerce and crypto.”

Lutes was taken by surprise by Dogecoin, just like many others, and said that he saw “exponential growth” over the first two months of the businesses’ launch with sales as good and better than 78 Coffee Co.

The experiment had been a success. He explained, “We decided we would lean into this thing completely and see where it goes. We couldn’t be more excited!”

DOGE Says Ka-Ching: Fast forward to today and Dogebeans has 25-30% of its sales in cryptocurrency, which Lutes says to his understanding is high for a business that accepts such payments.

See Also: Here’s Why Dogecoin Community Is Drooling Over Burger King Brazil’s Dogpper Meal Right Now

“I attribute this to our name being so directly attached to the Dogecoin community. People want to hold and then spend their Dogecoin. It’s so much fun! It’s amazing to say you bought something with dog money! Much wow!”

Dogebeans accept DOGE, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Dai (CRYPTO: DAI), and USD Coin (CRYPTO: USDC). 

Although, as per Lutes, “No Bitcoin payments… yet!”

Dealing With Ups and Downs: “The biggest obstacle we’ve faced is how to handle a volatile currency (or asset depending on who you’re talking to) on our balance sheet,” revealed Lutes.

So, Dogebeans has been converting the DOGE to U.S. dollars as much as the business requires to cover costs, overheads, etc but is holding the rest or putting it back into the “ecosystem” by paying other vendors.

Even so, Lutes is optimistic about taking DOGE at the cash register. He said, “I’m excited to see how we approach the challenge of point of sale, because that’s where transaction speed really comes into play and Doge is great in that regard.”

The Future Is DOGE and Coffee: Lutes emphasized the need for small businesses to be at the forefront of DOGE and other cryptocurrencies in the movement for mass adoption.

“We’re really on the verge of something big and unprecedented here as a society.” 

Lutes thinks this is a better outcome than big players like Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) increasing their dominance.

The owner of Dogebeans is ready for the future as he prepares to reopen a cafe that he hoped will make the community proud.

But Lutes is not sitting idle in the meanwhile. He told Benzinga that Dogebeans will do pop-ups in the local area and is working on a coffee and beer collaboration with a local award-winning brewery in a couple of weeks.

As for Dogecoin, he is a firm believer. “We believe a people-powered movement of mass adoption is gonna see this thing continue strong in the future. We believe in that future, and we believe that The Future is Caffeinated!”

Read Next: Dogecoin Creator Says This Is The ‘Ultimate C*ap Coin — ‘ And For A Good Reason