Brian Armstrong – the CEO of Coinbase – and Jack Dorsey, who now runs Block Inc. and is the former head of social media giant Twitter, are teaming up in the name of bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
Jack Dorsey and Coinbase: The Perfect Match?
The Lightning Network was initially created to aid bitcoin with its unending array of transactions. Traffic has become so common and heavy atop the BTC ledger that things have really slowed down in recent years, and fees have gotten out of control.
Lightning thus works to take some of the smaller transactions off-chain, thus allowing bitcoin to move faster and at more appealing speeds for crypto traders. Dorsey commented that the Lightning Network will arguably go down as one of the most important forms of technology in the crypto arena, and he says adoption must increase if it’s to garner all the attention and praise it deserves. On Twitter, he wrote:
Why do you continue to ignore bitcoin and Lightning? What ‘crypto’ is a better money transmission protocol and why?
Armstrong was quick to answer the message from Dorsey and said that Coinbase is (and always will be) committed to bitcoin and to ensuring it endures unprecedented growth. He responded with:
We’re looking into how to best add Lightning. It’s non-trivial, but I think worth doing. I’m all for payments taking off in bitcoin. Not sure why you think we’re ignoring bitcoin. We’ve onboarded more people to bitcoin than probably any company in the world. Let’s build it together.
Dorsey then continued the conversation by stating that while Armstrong and his team have undoubtedly done quite a bit to increase the reputation of BTC, there’s still more on the current to-do list. He said:
We want an open protocol for money transmission for the internet that’s not controlled by a single individual, company, or government. Same team.
Not long ago, Coinbase announced it was working hard to implement the Lightning Network onto its platform to ensure users could trade quickly and easily. Unfortunately, despite the company’s noble intentions, it has a large (and dark) cloud hovering over it in the shape of a lawsuit recently filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
There’s Thunder… and Lightning!
The financial agency alleges that Coinbase has been operating as an unlicensed exchange-broker since its earliest days. Thus, it’s out of compliance and should be subjected to penalties and fees. Many executives working at Coinbase gawked at this news given that, per their separate testimonies, they spent roughly nine years meeting with representatives of the SEC to ensure the company was always operating within legal bounds.
The SEC has garnered a reputation for being a bully of sorts to crypto firms lately. It’s also filed suits against exchanges Kraken and Binance.
