World’s richest person and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated today that he is considering using Bitcoin on Mars, but there are still challenges to be addressed. At the same time, he expressed an open attitude towards using Bitcoin on the X platform, but he hasn’t given it much thought.
Consideration of using Bitcoin on Mars
Improvement possible through the Lightning Network
Using Bitcoin on the X platform?
In a historic moment for the cryptocurrency market, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 Bitcoin spot ETF applications, including those from BlackRock, Ark Investment/21Shares, and Grayscale. As the application from Ark Investment was approved, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, also participated in a Twitter Space event earlier today, hosted by Ark Investment’s founder Cathie Wood.
According to Cointelegraph’s report, Musk has been committed to establishing a colony on Mars by 2050, believing that humans must evolve into a multi-planetary species in order to survive. When Cathie Wood asked if he plans to use Bitcoin as a currency on Mars, Musk initially mentioned the time-consuming nature of settling transactions using Bitcoin on Mars. However, Musk reconsidered and stated that since the distance between Earth and the Sun is only 8 light-minutes, while the distance between Earth and Mars is about 12 light-minutes, using Bitcoin on Mars could actually be feasible. However, there may still be obstacles, as Mars might require a local network. (A light-minute is the distance light travels in a vacuum in one minute, equivalent to 17,987,547.48 kilometers.)
Musk later agreed with Bitcoin core developer Matt Corallo’s view that the slow transaction speed of Bitcoin could be resolved through localized Lightning Network. Currently, Bitcoin transactions require up to an hour to ensure security, as the block time for Bitcoin is 10 minutes, and a transaction typically needs to go through six blocks to be confirmed.
Regardless of whether Bitcoin has a localized Lightning Network on Mars or not, Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, remains optimistic about the idea of using Bitcoin on Mars. He believes that 12-22 light-minutes pose no problem for a 10-minute block time.
A more likely possibility is when Cathie Wood asked Musk about considering integrating Bitcoin into the infrastructure of the X platform. Musk expressed an open attitude towards using Bitcoin on the X platform, but he hasn’t given it much thought. In fact, in August of last year, Musk stated that the X platform will never launch a cryptocurrency, but in December, he mentioned that he won’t spend much time thinking about cryptocurrencies. He also revealed that the X platform aims to obtain a nationwide payment license in the U.S. by mid-2024, with the goal of launching payment functionality by the end of 2024.
With Musk’s ever-changing nature, if granted regulatory approval, it is not unlikely that he would still consider it.
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