<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Bill Barhydt, CEO of Bitcoin investment platform Abra, claims that Facebook staffers told him the company wanted to use Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency to power its payment platforms. But the social media giant had “no choice” except to develop its own cryptocurrency, due to Bitcoin’s inability to scale. ” data-reactid=”19″>Bill Barhydt, CEO of Bitcoin investment platform Abra, claims that Facebook staffers told him the company wanted to use Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency to power its payment platforms. But the social media giant had “no choice” except to develop its own cryptocurrency, due to Bitcoin’s inability to scale.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Barhydt made his remarks last week on the What Bitcoin Did podcast, hosted by Peter McCormack, where he emphasized that his assertion was based on conversations with a number of people directly involved with Libra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency payment platform.” data-reactid=”20″>Barhydt made his remarks last week on the What Bitcoin Did podcast, hosted by Peter McCormack, where he emphasized that his assertion was based on conversations with a number of people directly involved with Libra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency payment platform.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Earlier this year, Abra became the first platform to launch fractional-share investing with Bitcoin, and counts American Express Ventures, Foxconn Technology Group and Arbor ventures among its investors.” data-reactid=”21″>Earlier this year, Abra became the first platform to launch fractional-share investing with Bitcoin, and counts American Express Ventures, Foxconn Technology Group and Arbor ventures among its investors.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="In the podcast, Barhydt said he had taken part in multiple conversions with Facebook team members, and they told him that their initial goal was not to create a cryptocurrency, but a payment platform, that served their users’ needs.” data-reactid=”22″>In the podcast, Barhydt said he had taken part in multiple conversions with Facebook team members, and they told him that their initial goal was not to create a cryptocurrency, but a payment platform, that served their users’ needs.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="“Ideally—from my discussions—they actually would have preferred to use Bitcoin. I think there’s a huge belief in the system. But if you want to build a remittance system and you want to build a cross-border commerce system and you have 1.2 billion users today, what would happen to Bitcoin? Fees would skyrocket. Doing anything with Bitcoin that was transactional was effectively untenable.”” data-reactid=”23″>“Ideally—from my discussions—they actually would have preferred to use Bitcoin. I think there’s a huge belief in the system. But if you want to build a remittance system and you want to build a cross-border commerce system and you have 1.2 billion users today, what would happen to Bitcoin? Fees would skyrocket. Doing anything with Bitcoin that was transactional was effectively untenable.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Barhydt said that Facebook had considered all the options, including Bitcoin’s scaling solution, the Lighting Network. ” data-reactid=”24″>Barhydt said that Facebook had considered all the options, including Bitcoin’s scaling solution, the Lighting Network.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="“These are smart people. They’ve looked at Lighting, they’ve looked at Bitcoin, they’ve thought this through. And they came to the conclusion that Bitcoin is not optimized to be a payment network, Bitcoin is optimized to be digital cash right now,” said Barhydt. ” data-reactid=”25″>“These are smart people. They’ve looked at Lighting, they’ve looked at Bitcoin, they’ve thought this through. And they came to the conclusion that Bitcoin is not optimized to be a payment network, Bitcoin is optimized to be digital cash right now,” said Barhydt.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="He added that this wouldn’t necessarily hold true forever, particularly when the Lightning Network was ready. But he said that Facebook was determined to build a system that was scalable today for payments on its platforms: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.” data-reactid=”26″>He added that this wouldn’t necessarily hold true forever, particularly when the Lightning Network was ready. But he said that Facebook was determined to build a system that was scalable today for payments on its platforms: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Earlier this week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took a swipe at Libra, and doubled down on comments that Bitcoin will become the internet’s native currency—and not a commercial alternative. ” data-reactid=”27″>Earlier this week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took a swipe at Libra, and doubled down on comments that Bitcoin will become the internet’s native currency—and not a commercial alternative.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="But while Barhydt admitted that Libra may currently be little more than a private database, he said Facebook had future plans to create something akin to a “scalable Bitcoin.” But “you can’t go fully permission-less out of the gate.”” data-reactid=”28″>But while Barhydt admitted that Libra may currently be little more than a private database, he said Facebook had future plans to create something akin to a “scalable Bitcoin.” But “you can’t go fully permission-less out of the gate.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey’s views are more similar than we thought.” data-reactid=”29″>Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey’s views are more similar than we thought.
Add Comment