The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a new research paper entitled “Towards the holy grail of international payments.” Interestingly, Bitcoin, among others, is mentioned as a “credible” possibility. “After more than 1,000 years of searching, the holy grail for international payments may be found in the next 10 years,” the ECB said.
1/ New @ECB paper: "Toward the Holy Grail of Cross-Border Payments"
"After more than 1,000 years of search, the holy grail of cross-border payments can be found within the next 10 years"
Guess what's discussed as a credible possibility?
Bitcoin +⚡https://t.co/ziy5sT6CFW pic.twitter.com/9VBoHGgWDp
— Alex Gladstein 🌋 ⚡ (@gladstein) August 2, 2022
Bitcoin and the Lightning Network
According to ECB researchers, the ‘holy grail’ of international payments needs to fulfil a few requirements. Payments must arrive at their destination instantly, be cheap, be able to reach the entire world and settle in a secure medium like central bank money. “The search has been going on for many centuries,” writes the ECB representative.
“The Bitcoin network – complemented by additional layers like the Lightning Network to ensure speed and transaction capacity – has some properties that make it potentially suitable as the holy grail for international payments,” the ECB (!) said.
Although they ultimately conclude that Bitcoin is the least suitable candidate of all the alternatives. According to the study, connecting domestic instant payment systems and digital central bank money are the future. The latter is no surprise, since the research comes from a central bank itself. However, that they are already considering Bitcoin and the Lightning Network as an option is a victory in itself
Lightning Network development continues
Meanwhile, the Lightning Network continues to evolve. Strike is a payment provider that focuses entirely on the Lightning Network and will soon come up with its own payment card. “It starts with a ‘c’ and ends with a ‘d’ and in between is the country code of Argentina.
In addition, the capacity of the Lightning Network has increased by over 100 percent in the past year. Whereas last year we were at a capacity of 2,150 bitcoin, the Lightning Network now has a capacity of over 4,400 bitcoin.
So the Lightning Network is on the rise on all sides and has now also appeared on the European Central Bank’s radar as a serious option to become the “holy grail” for international payments. We may be in a bear market, but fundamentally bitcoin is more than in good shape at the moment.
