At Consensus Miami in May 2026, Gomining, one of the world's top 10 Bitcoin miners with over 5 million users, introduced GoBTC, an open-source payment protocol designed to enable instant authorization and on-chain Bitcoin settlement within 12 hours. The merchant fee is set at just 0.2% — significantly lower than the 1.5% to 3.5% charged by traditional credit card processors.
How GoBTC Works
GoBTC settles transactions directly on the Bitcoin base layer, bypassing sidechains, payment channels, or intermediaries. Merchants receive real-time authorization at the point of sale, while the actual on-chain confirmation is completed within 12 hours by a dedicated mining pool reserved by Gomining. The protocol is custody-free and free for users; the 0.2% fee is split evenly between the integrated wallet provider and the miners who validate the transaction.
GoBTC is designed as an open infrastructure — any wallet provider can integrate the protocol. Gomining has set aside a specific mining pool to confirm GoBTC transactions, ensuring the payment layer has its own block space without competing with regular Bitcoin traffic. The company aims to achieve full 12-hour on-chain settlement across the entire system by the end of 2026.
Why Now?
Bitcoin's original whitepaper envisioned a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” but 17 years later, adoption by merchants remains limited. In the United States, only about 2,300 businesses directly accept Bitcoin, despite 22% of American adults owning the asset. The Lightning Network, launched in 2018, reached a monthly volume milestone of $1.17 billion in November 2025 and processes over 12 million monthly transactions as of 2026, yet its routing complexity and limited merchant integration have hindered widespread use.
GoBTC takes a different architectural approach: it relies on direct on-chain settlement using Bitcoin's block confirmation mechanism, with Gomining's mining infrastructure absorbing the settlement delay. Whether the model scales beyond early integrations will depend on wallet provider adoption and merchant comfort with the “authorization-before-settlement” timeline.
Industry Implications
For Gomining, the launch marks a strategic expansion from mining services into the payments infrastructure layer. The company believes that the entity best positioned to validate Bitcoin transactions is also best positioned to settle them. If GoBTC gains traction with major wallets and merchants, it could become a meaningful complement — or competitor — to the Lightning Network, potentially accelerating Bitcoin's use as a medium of exchange.