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- The former PayPal executive has revealed that PayPal plans to make Bitcoin the world’s payment network.
- The executive believes that Bitcoin could become the universal protocol for money on the internet.
Former PayPal and product VP at Facebook, David Marcus, has revealed his ambitious plans for Bitcoin (BTC). According to the executive, Bitcoin will become the universal protocol for money on the internet. Marcus intends to make BTC the global payment network.
Bitcoin has thus far been viewed as more of a store of value than a payment network. Marcus believes this can change. In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on September 11, the executive stated, “We’re trying to turn Bitcoin into a global payment network.”
"We're trying to turn #Bitcoin into a global payment network. There's no universal protocol for money on the internet that enables value to be transported," says @lightspark CEO @davidmarcus. "Our view is $BTC is not the currency people will use to buy things." pic.twitter.com/3fEBTzHxJS
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) September 11, 2023
Like most experts, Marcus compared the technologies such as email and messaging. These have now become global and universal but had their origins in faxes. Bitcoin could become the global and universal finance system. However, Bitcoin is still in the fax era of global payments.
Marcus explained;
Our view is actually that Bitcoin is not the currency that people will use to buy things. But a fragment of a Bitcoin on top of lightning is like a small data packet on the internet only for value.
Utilizing the Lightning Network, enables, “real-time, cash final and low-cost,” making cross-border transactions easier, and more efficient. His optimism comes despite a 14.5 percent decline in Lightning Network channels since the start of the year. This has in part been blamed on the bearish market.
The opportunity for Bitcoin is enormous as demonstrated by the figures recorded by current systems such as SWIFT. Such systems transfer trillions of dollars worth of value. However, they are slow and expensive, slowing business transactions. Using the Lightning network, Bitcoin transactions faster, decreases network congestion, and lowers fees.
If you were to send them money [but]they were not a U.S citizen here using one of the same fintech apps you’re using then you wouldn’t be able to do that. So we’re still in the fax era of global payments.
As Bitcoin’s value grows, this could hinder Marcus’s vision since many holders will be tempted to treat the digital asset as a store of value. It is further compounded by the volatility which makes payments challenging due to the constant price changes. Another challenge is the lack of privacy, with all transactions recorded on the public blockchain, users risk having all their payments easily tracked.
At the time of press, Bitcoin is trading for $25,950. With the possibility of the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF and the upcoming 2024 Bitcoin halving, experts predict that the digital asset will rally to surpass its 2021 all-time high of $69,000. A key target for bulls is the $100K range.
