Photo: JD Lasica / Flickr
During an interview with podcaster Stephan Livera, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey discussed Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, and the Square Cash App. He revealed the plans on the future Square Cash wallet development and confirmed that the Lightning Network will be rolled out on the company’s Cash App.
He said:
“It’s not an ‘if,’ it’s more of a ‘when,’ and how do we make sure that we’re getting the speed that we need and the efficiency.”
He added:
“We don’t think it stops at buying and selling [bitcoin]. We do want to help make happen the currency aspect.”
According to Dorsey, he has reunited with Elizabeth Stark, the CEO of Lightning Labs, to discuss the initiative.
Lightning Network is a second-layer off-chain solution atop the Bitcoin network to ease up the burden of the BTC mainnet for processing millions of transactions. Dorsey explained why this solution has been chosen. As he stated, it is an interesting idea that can be integrated with the Square Cash App.
He said:
“We have a massive seller network of businesses [of different sizes] […] We would love to make [Bitcoin payments] as fast and efficient and transactional as possible and that includes looking at our seller base and our register.”
He further added:
“it’s due to the principles that created it [Bitcoin], the community around it, the ideals that it fosters, the brand,…and there is an element of practically as well.”
As a part of the integration, Dorsey and the team behind the app are considering enabling users to auto-buy Bitcoin with savings from Cash App’s boost feature. Square CEO commented:
“We’ve definitely heard that ask and I think there is something there. We haven’t explored it too much just yet, but we do hear the call and we think it would be pretty compelling.”
The Lightning Network will be integrated with the Square Cash mobile app, but this integration will take some time to make the transactions as efficient as possible.
Dorsey: No Currency Will Beat Bitcoin
Jack Dorsey has repeatedly made clear that he is a vocal supporter of Bitcoin. He believes in this currency and is not interested in other coins at all.
He said:
“It feels it’s the one that wants to be currency the most, versus others that are doing more general purpose things or distributed computing […] I think [the altcoin space] has generated some really amazing ideas, but I’m focused on currency and the transactional aspect.”
Moreover, Dorsey believes that no other currencies will ever beat Bitcoin. Square and Twitter CEO hopes that Bitcoin is likely to become the Internet’s single native currency.
Dorsey stated:
“There’s interesting ideas elsewhere, but I think those ideas can be integrated to Bitcoin if they have merit that’s above some bar. It [BTC] feels like it’s the one that wants to be the currency the most, versus others that are doing more general purpose things, or distributed computing and what not.”
Last week, Dorsey participated in the project named “Lightning Torch”. The experiment has amassed over 140 participants from 37 countries and included such prominent figures as Lightning Labs engineer Joost Jager and Morgan Creek Digital founder Anthony Pompliano.
