LQwD Technologies Corp. (TSX.V: LQWD) (OTCQB: LQWDF)
LQwD Technologies Corp. (TSX.V: LQWD) (OTCQB: LQWDF) is a financial technology company focused on creating enterprise-grade infrastructure to drive bitcoin adoption.
LQwD Technologies's mission is to develop institutional-grade services that support the Lightning Network and drive improved functionality, transaction capability, user adoption and utility, and scaling of bitcoin. LQwD is also securing a substantial position in bitcoin as an operating asset and will use its holdings to establish nodes and payment channels on the Lightning Network.
The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol, sitting above the bitcoin blockchain, intended to facilitate faster micro-transactions and lower fees on bitcoin transactions, thus allowing mass adoption of bitcoin.
LQwD expects the Lightning Network to eclipse the patchwork of legacy financial networks that are used to move value today. The company's software will make migration from legacy networks onto the Lightning Network easy and seamless. By onboarding more financial service providers, LQwD intends to grow the value of the Lightning Network.
The company, formerly known as Interlapse Technologies Corp., is harnessing new payment rails built on top of the bitcoin blockchain that are capable of beyond visa-level transaction volumes and backed by bitcoin, the strongest and most well-known cryptocurrency. These new rails, enabled by the Bitcoin Lightning Network, open a vast opportunity and market segment for digital payments and financial services on a global scale. LQwD aims to leverage its position as a public company to enhance trust in its products and services, and leverage its shares as currency for acquisitions, roll-up and growth, as well as to attract and retain top industry talent.
Product
The Lightning Network is a solution to massively scale the use of bitcoin for microtransactions globally, dramatically improving upon fees, as well as providing instant settlement times. The Lightning Network has experienced explosive growth and is expected to continue with the trend as usage increases. Well-known companies, such as Twitter and Square, have expressed their enthusiasm to incorporate Lightning Network into their platforms. The Lightning Network is scalable, global, open, inclusive, permissionless and decentralized. It is made up of nodes connected via payment channels, and enables off-chain, instantaneous and cheap payments at scale.
Upon launch of LQwD's Lightning Network platform-as-a-service, users will be able to leverage the Lightning Network infrastructure to send payments instantly, securely and inexpensively anywhere in the world. Companies and service providers will be able to conduct Lightning Network transactions in bitcoin by integrating LQwD's infrastructure with their business or web property. Connected businesses will be able to easily deploy, monitor and manage LQwD's Lightning Network nodes with no or low-level technical knowledge required. The company fully expects Lightning Network to be a force for global change and to become the monetary exchange network of the future.
The Lightning Network, which is already built, functioning and growing, will advance bitcoin from a store-of-value to a global monetary network through payment utility. The company expects the Lightning Network will propel the growing number of active blockchain wallets to new heights, by increasing bitcoin's scalability and lowering its fees for users. For coming generations, everything from wealth to experiences will be acquired and transacted virtually, and LQwD sees the Lightning Network as an enabling technology that can bring bitcoin to hundreds of millions of new users across the globe.
Market Outlook
Forbes in August 2021 noted that "private investors are funding companies that are building the infrastructure that will support future growth of crypto and digital assets," and called public companies building cryptocurrency infrastructure "the hottest part of the crypto market." While the first wave of investor interest in crypto firms was directed at companies catering to retail investors, investors have now shifted their attention to infrastructure builders, like LQwD Technologies. Forbes did not put an estimated value on the crypto infrastructure market but pointed out that large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies will only happen when infrastructure is in place to support it. The larger digital payments market, of which crypto payments are a small fraction, is growing at more than 14 percent annually and is forecast to hit $154 billion by 2025.
Management Team
Shone Anstey is co-founder, chairman and CEO at LQwD Technologies. He has 20 years of experience in building complex technologies and has acted as technology lead for an industrial bitcoin mine and bitcoin mining pool. He is a Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator, and an advisor to the British Columbia Securities Commission. He is also co-founder of BIGG Digital Assets (OTCQX: BBKCF) and took that company public in 2017.
Barry MacNeil is CFO at LQwD Technologies. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and has more than 30 years of management and accounting experience with public companies and in private practice. His previous positions include director of both public companies and nonprofits, as well as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Controller.
Albert Szmigielski is co-founder and CTO at LQwD Technologies. He was formerly the Head of Research and Chief Blockchain Engineer at Blockchain Intelligence Group and VP Research at CipherTrace. He holds a B.Sc. in Computing Science from Simon Fraser University, and a Master of Science in Digital Currencies and Blockchain Technologies from the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.
