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Lightning supporter Dorsey sees Square expand BTC services nationwide

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Expanding Markets

Less than six months after contributing to a $2.5 million seed round for Lightning Labs, Square CEO Jack Dorsey has announced a national expansion.  Yesterday saw Square release a tweet on their official account.  They stated that Bitcoin was now able to be purchased across the entire United States via the Square platform.  Until this point, Bitcoin purchases were limited to certain geographical areas.

Dorsey has long been known as one of the greatest Bitcoin advocates.  He has gone on record believing that in time, it will become the global de-facto currency.  Back in March he stated in an interview with The Times of London, “The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency.  I personally believe that it will be bitcoin…probably over ten years, but it could go faster.”

Working towards the end game

Clearly a believer of not only Bitcoin, but of the Lightning Network as well, it isn’t a stretch to imagine the second layer protocol being active one day on the Square Cash App.  In the same interview with The Times of London, Dorsey recognized that the current iteration of Bitcoin, “…does not have the capabilities right now to become an effective currency…It’s slow and it’s costly, but as more and more people have it, those things go away.  There are newer technologies that build off of blockchain and make it more approachable.”  It is here that Dorsey is referring to the Lightning Network.

By funding Lightning Labs, and developing a platform that the Lightning Network can one day be activated on, Dorsey is doing his part to ensure his future view of Bitcoin becomes a reality.  To help Dorsey realize his vision of a global currency through the implementation of the Lightning Network on the Bitcoin blockchain, is CEO of Lightning Labs Elizabeth Stark.  Here she briefly explains the importance of this venture, and what it means for the future of Bitcoin.

 

Square Success

Square has seen a large share of success in 2018, despite the pain being felt by that overall market.  After opening support for cryptocurrencies on their platform, Square witness a doubling of crypto profits during Q2 of 2018.  This growth took place despite Bitcoin only being available in select regions.

Despite this growth in their platform, their revenue pales in comparison to main competitor Coinbase.  Also based in the United States, Coinbase reported over $1 billion in revenue last year.  While Coinbase has a running start, being in operation since 2012, Square is looking to make ground.  Now that their services are active across 50 states, look for Square to being adding support for more digital assets, and of course when its ready, the Lightning Network.