Can Bitcoin become the cornerstone of a worldwide payment network? Technology has seen exponential growth in the past two decades. Information is now at our fingertips – thanks to the innovation of the internet and smartphones. And yet, the global financial ecosystem is still living in what former PayPal President David Marcus describes as the “fax era.”
In a recent interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday, the PayPal co-founder envisioned a new future for Bitcoin. He reflected on Bitcoin’s mind-boggling journey over the last ten years.
While BTC is still a teenager – having been launched in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – it has propelled from a relatively unknown digital currency to a recognized digital asset. In the short time it has been around, Bitcoin has intrinsically emerged as a store of value, with crypto advocates promoting it as a hedge against inflation.
Marcus sees an enormous untapped potential in Bitcoin. During the interview, Marcus said he seeks to transform BTC into a worldwide payment network. The entrepreneur doesn’t foresee BTC ever becoming an universal payment method. “Our view is actually that Bitcoin is not the currency that people will use to buy things,” Marcus said. Instead, he believes Bitcoin will be largely used for international financial settlement, according to a media report.
The remarks may come as a shocker, given Marcus’ historical bullish stance on BTC and his current role as the CEO of Lightspark–a Bitcoin-based payment startup, which just launched a service to make transactions using Bitcoin faster on something called the Lighting Network.
The lightning network aims to make Bitcoin transactions quicker, less expensive and more practical for smaller payments. Marcus envisions Bitcoin’s lightning network as a “universal protocol for online money,” akin to texting being a universal communication protocol. Notably, the network would still transfer the familiar fiat currencies we use daily.
“A fragment of a Bitcoin on top of lightning is like a small packet data packet on the internet only for value,” Marcus noted. Lighting would enable users to send any currency, such as dollars, yen, or euros, and receive their preferred currency on the other end. Explaining further, Marcus said that lightning serves as a “real-time”, “low-cost”, and “cash final” settlement layer in between.
Marcus’ views are in line with that of Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike, a company that also uses the lightning network for cost-effective global currency transfers, and its app now supports lightning-based remittances in 65 countries, including Argentina, Nigeria, and Ghana. Users in these countries can get transactions in their local currency directly into their bank accounts.
Last month, PayPal launched its own stablecoin – PayPal USD (PYUSD) – that aims to “transform payments in Web3 and digitally narrative environments. The company has also introduced a Cryptocurrencies Hub feature, which allows users to hold and interact with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their PayPal account.