One of the most popular mobile payment apps in the world will implement Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
In a new interview, Square CEO Jack Dorsey says he’s working with the team at Lightning Labs to bring the Lightning Network (LN) to Square’s Cash App. LN is a layer-2 solution designed to speed up Bitcoin transactions and address major criticisms that the number one crypto is way too slow and impractical for mainstream adoption.
Appearing on Stephan Livera’s Bitcoin Podcast, Dorsey says making Bitcoin more transactional is a high priority, and that it’s only a matter of time before the company integrates the technology to make it faster and easier to use Bitcoin for purchases.
Says Dorsey,
“We’ve been exploring with Elizabeth and the Lightning team…
We would love to make it as fast and efficient and transactional as possible, and that includes looking at our seller base and our register. It’s not an ‘if’. It’s more of a ‘when’. And how do we make sure we’re getting the speed we need and the efficiency. A lot of what we’ve worked on the seller side is making transactions as fast as possible.”
Dorsey says the app has already gone a long way toward exposing Bitcoin to users around the globe, and giving them a way to spend BTC using the company’s Visa debit card.
“I think we have a pretty compelling experience that people who would not necessarily be able to get to Bitcoin in the past can now get to it with just one tap, and they can plug right into that 24-hour network and see it living and breathing. So we do intend to continue to expand it and do so in a way that feels simple, that feels approachable.
Ultimately, what Cash comes down to is accessibility. How do we increase the amount of people that can participate in the economy more broadly. And Cash has gone a really far way in that. We see people who have never had a bank account start with Cash and use it to store their money, get the Cash Card, personalize it and spend it wherever they are. And certainly people can buy Bitcoin and sell the Bitcoin, and that goes into their Cash account which they can then spend using their Visa card.”
You can check out the full podcast here.
