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Bitcoin actively took a decision to not be a currency but to be a "store of value". It cannot function as a currency because it's too slow (you can't wait for

Bitcoin actively took a decision to not be a currency but to be a "store of value". It cannot function as a currency because it's too slow (you can't wait for ~10 minutes to see if your transaction for included in the block in order to pay for a coffee). In order to separate State from Money, we need a currency. Until I can buy a coffee with my hypothetical FreeCoin, I need to rely on fiat currency supplied by someone both I and the barista trust (like a government). This isn't huge, it's shit

rahen 4y ago
The Bitcoin blockchain is a layer 1, it acts as a settlement layer, or put simply, a notarization layer, or a store of value layer. It's not intended to be used as a full scale transaction layer as it couldn't scale and would bloat the blockchain. Large amounts of transactions should be made off-chain through payment channels, with only the final balance between the parties written to the blockchain. This what layers 2, sitting above the blockchain, are about. Common layers 2 are Lightning and Liquid, the former being the most widely used. https://www.bitcoin.com/get-started/what-is-lightning-network/ https://www.bitcoin.com/get-started/what-is-lightning-networ... https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lightning-network.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lightning-network.asp It might interest you to note than clightning is written by Rusty Russel, mostly know for its work with the Linux kernel, and also author of iptables. We're also seing some layer 3 like RGB for smart contracts, but I digress. Suffice to say, Bitcoin is more than its layer 1 and store of value.