Bitcoin and Payments: A Love-Hate Relationship

Samson Mow, Blockstream’s Chief Strategy Officer, recently shared his thoughts on Bitcoin’s role in our daily transactions. Let’s face it, with an average transaction time stretching from ten minutes to potentially three hours, Bitcoin isn’t winning any races against your good old credit card. In an interview on August 15 for the SFOX blog, Mow candidly admitted that he, too, relies on credit cards for everyday payments. Talk about irony!

The Lightning Network: A Ray of Hope

So, what’s the silver lining in Mow’s narrative? Enter the Lightning Network! He argues that this innovative solution is game-changing for Bitcoin payments, designed specifically for everyday transactions. Speedy, cheap, and efficient, the Lightning Network aims to transform Bitcoin from a slowpoke to a sprinter—once it becomes widely adopted. Mow clearly believes that the Lightning Network can work wonders to alleviate Bitcoin’s transactional delays.

Bitcoin as a Store of Value

Mow emphasizes that Bitcoin serves a fundamentally different role than traditional currency. He describes it as a store of value and medium for wealth transfer, rather than a currency for daily use. “Bitcoin is bad for payments,” he stated, but added that it excels in preserving and transferring wealth. A fair point—just don’t expect to buy your morning coffee with it anytime soon!

The Unique Status of Bitcoin

What makes Bitcoin stand out from the crowd of cryptocurrencies? Mow likens Bitcoin to a mythical creature, asserting it has undergone a ‘virgin birth.’ In contrast, he sees altcoins as merely derivative. Here’s Mow on the subject:

“None of the altcoins have that. They’re all copies of Bitcoin’s concept […] without that kind of virgin birth […] someone is able to assert authority over the network and control the roadmap.”

Lessons from Facebook’s Libra

In a nod to contemporary digital currency dilemmas, Mow wasn’t shy about critiquing Facebook’s Libra initiative. He argues Libra is