Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Block, is a well-known Bitcoin (BTC) maximalist. In a recent episode of Presidio Bitcoin’s “21 in 21” podcast, he again commented on the digital currency. However, he hinted that BTC could fail if it becomes nothing more than a digital savings instrument.
“BTC Must Become a Payment Method”
According to the Twitter founder, it is crucial that Bitcoin plays a role in people’s everyday lives – especially as a practical means of payment. “If Bitcoin isn’t used for everyday payments, it remains something you buy and forget,” said Dorsey. Without relevance in everyday use, the digital currency risks being forgotten in the long term. Being interesting only in times of financial hardship is not enough, in his opinion.
Dorsey calls on the community to massively improve the user experience when making payments. Developers and entrepreneurs should create simple, accessible solutions that allow users to pay quickly and easily with Bitcoin. Comparisons with payment giants like Visa and Mastercard are not shy: the network must be able to match their speed and scalability.
Criticism of the Lightning Network
It’s notable that Dorsey is critical of the Lightning Network – even though it’s one of the most well-known Layer 2 solutions, designed to enable faster and cheaper Bitcoin transactions. For comparison, the Bitcoin Blockchain can only process about seven transactions per second. Conventional networks like Visa, on the other hand, can handle thousands.
The Lightning Network circumvents this problem by processing transactions off-chain. This allows users to pay quickly and inexpensively without overloading the main chain.
Nevertheless, Dorsey isn’t entirely convinced. While he calls the Lightning Network “not bad,” he finds it challenging in practice. In his opinion, it’s time to open Bitcoin to alternative protocols that are easier to use and better suited to the needs of the general public.
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