How to Sell Bitcoin on the Lightning Network in the United States

Americans can now instantly sell bitcoin directly from their Lightning Wallets. The same auto conversion Bitcoin Well Customers are used for instantly and conveniently selling bitcoin from self-custody now has a Lightning option ready in the Sell bitcoin page of your Bitcoin Well account.

Adding the ability to sell bitcoin from the Lightning Network underscores our commitment to enabling you to get the most out of the freedom and independence Bitcoin has to offer. No longer must you rely on giving up custody of your bitcoin or navigate complicated trading interfaces for fast and convenient sales! Just send sats and receive dollars – Lightning fast.

Selling sats from the Lightning Network is quick and easy:

1. From your Bitcoin Well account, go to Sell bitcoin and enter the amount of dollars you want
2. Choose your bank, select “Lightning” and then generate a Lightning Invoice
3. Pay the Lightning invoice and we’ll send dollars to your bank account

Here are detailed steps to guide you on how to sell sats from the Lightning Network 👇

Get your Lightning Invoice

Navigate to your Sell bitcoin page, enter the amount of dollars you wish to receive, set your destination bank account and select “Lightning”.

Tap ‘Generate invoice’ to create a Lightning invoice. This Lightning invoice will be for the exact amount of sats you need to send for the amount of dollars you want to receive.

Send sats to your Lightning Invoice

To instantly sell bitcoin for dollars, simply pay the Lightning Invoice from your Lightning wallet. You can do this by scanning the QR code or by tapping the QR code to copy + paste the invoice into your Lightning wallet. Once received (basically instantly), we automatically convert received sats into dollars and send the dollars to your selected bank account. No waiting for confirmations, no mining fees and no complicated trading interfaces. Just sats in, dollars out. Lightning fast ⚡️

## What is the Lightning Network?

The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol built on top of Bitcoin. It enables fast, cheap, and private bitcoin payments, perfect for small transactions and daily use. Think of it like the relationship between the credit card network and the banking system. While Bitcoin’s base layer is optimized for security, Lightning is optimized for frequent or small, cheap and private payments for everyday transactions — instantly and without bloating the blockchain. The Lightning Network makes it much more convenient to use bitcoin in everyday life, bringing you closer to replacing your bank with bitcoin.

Currently, sats on the Lightning Network cannot be directly sent to an on-chain bitcoin wallet, and vice versa. However, that won’t remain true for Bitcoin Well accounts for long…

Why Does the Lightning Network Matter?

The Lightning Network helps bitcoin reach its full potential as everyday money. While Bitcoin’s base chain is perfect for storing value, it’s not always practical for everyday payments or quick, small transactions. Lightning fills that gap — it’s fast, inexpensive, and built for a world where people use bitcoin as easily as cash. Bitcoin is the future of money. Lightning makes it usable today. We love Lightning, and have some exciting additional products coming that will shock you!

Earn sats over the Lightning Network

Earn sats when you refer your friends! When you add your Lightning Payment address from your personal Lightning Wallet to your Referral page, every time someone you referred transacts on the portal, you get a kickback paid in sats! Of course, we never custody your bitcoin, even when you get a Lightning referral reward! All bitcoin is always sent straight to your wallet. ⚡

Haven’t signed up with Bitcoin Well yet? Sign up here and embrace the Bitcoin Standard.

About Bitcoin Well

Bitcoin Well exists to enable independence. We do this by coupling the convenience of modern banking, with the benefits of bitcoin. In other words, we want to make it easy to use bitcoin in self-custody.  ⁠ ⁠

We are publicly traded (and love it when our customers become shareholders!) and hold ourselves to a high standard of enabling life on a Bitcoin standard. If you want to learn more about Bitcoin Well, please visit our website or reach out!