Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto wanted it to be an “alternative to banks,” not a “new VISA,” cryptocurrency veteran and former Blockchain executive Dan Held has said.
What’s In A ‘Vision’?
In a series of tweets January 14, Held became the latest well-known figure to take issue with pundits who claim Bitcoin’s intended purpose is primarily as a currency for payments.
They, he argues, especially those who champion the concept of “Satoshi’s vision,” do not take into account the full implications of the Bitcoin whitepaper Nakamoto published in 2008.
“Satoshi’s Vision… is a silly endeavor, as it doesn’t matter what it was, we are where we are now,” he began.
However, those pushing the ‘Bitcoin was first made for payments’ narrative insist on cherry-picking sentences from the white paper and forum posts to champion their perspective.
1/ Satoshi’s Vision™ is a silly endeavor, as it doesn’t matter what it was, we are where we are now. However, those pushing the “Bitcoin was first made for payments” narrative insist on cherry-picking sentences from the white paper and forum posts to champion their perspective.
— Dan Held (@danheld) January 14, 2019
World ‘Needed’ A Banking Alternative
As Bitcoin price [coin_price] has fallen almost continuously since December 2017, the largest cryptocurrency has faced multiple votes of no confidence, mostly from mainstream economists and proponents of altcoins such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Amid issues involving volatility and acceptance, many sources have queried where Bitcoin’s place will ultimately lie in tomorrow’s market.
For Held, this is undeniably as a store of value (‘SOV’), rather than an alternative to payment processing networks such as VISA and MasterCard which critics complain surpass Bitcoin in terms of speed and transaction capacity.
“With the 2008 financial crisis, trust had been lost in a world that ran on trust. Bitcoin was launched in a time of absolute necessity, Satoshi planted the seed at precisely the right moment,” he continued.
The world didn’t need a new VISA, they needed an alternative to banks.
As Bitcoinist reported, the mainstream media tone around Bitcoin appeared to change over the new year.
Two conspicuous articles – from TIME Magazine and this week from the Spectator – both argued Bitcoin had fundamental use cases for the global community which no other asset could rival.
In terms of capacity, however, Bitcoin will ultimately offer better options than credit card networks via off-chain processing on the Lightning Network – millions of transactions per second compared to VISA’s 45,000.
What do you think about Dan Held’s perspective on Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below!
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