Every Phone Needs An SPV Wallet

Andrew Stone, the lead developer at Bitcoin Unlimited has spoken out about the importance of SPV wallets on phones at the recent Satoshi’s Vision Conference. Bitcoin Cash adoption is at the top of Stone’s agenda and he believes that as a developer for Bitcoin Unlimited, his and his colleagues goals should be focused on just that, getting Bitcoin Cash into the mainstream. This is because of a number of factors, firstly Bitcoin Cash has the blockchain capacity to create and maintain its own network. Stone believes that there’s no time like the present and that the present is here so it’s time to get it done. Stone also believes that new developments can counter the anti-cryptocurrency propaganda that is being replicated at a governmental level. Mostly however, Stone argues that creativity and difference creates niches, niches that can only be explored when Bitcoin Cash enters the mainstream consumers pockets. Stone discusses an idea for peer to peer betting which uses the Bitcoin Cash wallet on a phone. In his scenario, two friends watching a football match could use this SPV wallet to initiate a bet, perhaps on the result of the football match. The wallet can then use the phones internet connection to get live statistics from FIFA (a football governing body) to calculate the odds of the betting. The difference here is that compared to traditional betting, the odds selection is automated and not decided by a body that is within the bet, therefore the middle man is removed. Again, compared to traditional betting, this P2P model means players bet against each other and not against a bookmaker, meaning the middle man is removed once again. Another example for the use of SPV wallets that Stone discusses is the ability to pay for access to the New York subway using a mobile phone app, the infrastructure already exists so the potential to use Bitcoin Cash here is immense. If everybody had an SPV wallet on their phone, then the technology could be created and implemented in a day. The premise of Stone’s talk is that the easiest way for Bitcoin Cash to reach the mainstream is through a medium that people use every day. A physical token might work, but it’s logistically difficult and quite expensive to produce. As people, we use mobile phones and smartphones to carry out a number of interactions in our daily lives, so when SPV wallets become the norm, in Stone’s eyes, Bitcoin Cash won’t be far behind. See Stone’s full talk here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAjsJdoeSv0&list=PLpd9yRMC7Ebl40OAmLUI8Zev9Ixekxv6s&index=14&t=0s Featured Image Source: Pixabay