Everyone is excited about the news from Twitter, the social network of crypto-lovers that wants to massively increase the use of Bitcoin (BTC), via its Layer 2, Lightning Network (LN).
According to reports, yesterday the official Twitter account announced the launch of Tips, an in-app money-sending function that will use BTC and LN. The app is currently being tested on iOS, but will soon be available on Android.
Twitter welcomes Bitcoin and Lightning Network: the dawn of a new day
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, had already published the following tweet two days ago (the day before the official announcement):
— jack
(@jack) September 22, 2021
A dawn, a sunset, a change. Bitcoin and Lightning Network are now officially usable on his social network.
Immediately after the announcement, famous names from the crypto world, including Anthony Pompliano of Morgan Creek Digital and Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy, also broke the news.
BREAKING: Twitter is launching Bitcoin Lightning Network tipping functionality on iOS.
— Pomp
(@APompliano) September 23, 2021
#Bitcoin on #Lightning
— Michael Saylor
Brian Armstrong of Coinbase also commented with a more futuristic view of the current situation, mentioning decentralized social media. Here is the tweet:
Huge if true. I imagine we will see crypto integrated into most social media apps in the next 5 years. Reddit has already started in this direction. We will also see brand new decentralized social media apps.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) September 23, 2021
“Huge if true. I imagine we will see crypto integrated into most social media apps in the next 5 years. Reddit has already started in this direction. We will also see brand new decentralized social media apps”.
Twitter and previews of NFTs and the Metaverse
Another novelty in the Twitter household is its announcement about adding to the platform a verification feature for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
By now, it’s well established that NFTs are trending, growing and evolving, so much so that the social of crypto-lovers is starting its adventure, specifically with regard to social media avatars.
An association between NFTs and social media has also been expressed with the concept of the “metaverse”. Something that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, already described in an interview.
According to Twitter’s competitor, the metaverse would be a kind of online virtual universe, composed of many persistent 3D virtual spaces, and which does not concern a single platform or a single company (Facebook), but which wants to surpass the boundaries between different platforms and tools.
Dorsey talked about social media avatars, but did not yet elaborate on his interpretation of metaverse, which lately embraces more and more realities using NFTs and Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR).
Twitter and the consequences on BTC and LN
Despite Twitter’s resounding announcement regarding BTC’s Lightning Network Tips functionality, the price of the crypto queen has yet to see any major changes.
Between yesterday and today, the price of bitcoin saw a pump from $44,000 to $45,000.
Meanwhile, Lightning Network continues to increase its total network capacity, locking up an impressive 2800 BTC which, at the time of writing, is equivalent to $126 million.
The post Twitter and Bitcoin Lightning Network: promises become reality appeared first on The Cryptonomist.
