Bitcoin’s Power As An Online Messenger

• Bitcoin is more than just a cryptocurrency
• Blockchain technology has a huge communication potential
• Is this what we need to see Bitcoin hit the masses

It’s sometimes hard to remember that on the surface, Bitcoin is so much more than just a cryptocurrency. Yes, it’s a cryptocurrency and it’s an investment, that’s why we buy it. However, it is actually a part of a far wider system, a system that has other massive implications for use across a broad spectrum of things. It’s these ‘things’ that we need to start talking about if we ever hope to see Bitcoin adoption in the mainstream. For this to happen, society needs to learn that Bitcoin is more than just money, they need to learn about the blockchain too.

What makes Bitcoin’s blockchain so special? Well, we can’t forget that Bitcoin is built upon the first ever blockchain and therefore the entire cryptocurrency industry rests within its early design. However, Bitcoin also boasts a huge private messaging feature thanks to it’s lightning network, a feature that could very well be used within mainstream society.

“Bitcoin’s lightning network might have a use case beyond faster and more scalable payments. Last week Lightning Labs developer Joost Jager revealed an experimental, new proof of concept: Whatsat, a version of lightning that can be used to send private messages. Like bitcoin, it’s censorship-resistant. But, unlike encrypted apps that morph messages into unreadable, garbled text to keep messages from prying eyes, there’s no central entity to stop users from employing the network.”

Joost Jager has said:

“I like to compare private messaging with talking to someone in person privately. We can do this without asking for permission. It is a freedom that is so natural, that we hardly even realize how important it is. As we humans continue to digitize ourselves further every day, I think it makes sense to extend this freedom into the digital domain.”

We should note that this is not what Bitcoin was designed for however it’s the result of Bitcoin’s technology. It’s a good thing… it provides a great example of just how versatile Bitcoin and blockchain technology can be. Most importantly however, in an age that demands data security in the mainstream, such messaging applications could come to the fore to challenge the Facebook monopoly. The world is crying out for a new way to communicate that is safe, secure, fast and easy to use. Could the Bitcoin lightning network provide the answers to this?