Core developer Eric Lombrozo: Bitcoin is about financial sovereignty, not speed

Bitcoin Core developer Eric Lombrozo believes that the significance of Bitcoin lies in financial independence and freedom, rather than providing a centralized settlement network, which has become the backbone of today's global financial ecosystem.

Over the past two years, various Bitcoin communities, analysts, and experts have debated the nature of Bitcoin; specifically, whether Bitcoin exhibits the properties of a settlement network or digital gold.

Since the Bitcoin network was deployed, Bitcoin Core developers and other talents in the Bitcoin open source development community have been strengthening security measures to eliminate the existence of central institutions within the Bitcoin network and ensure that the Bitcoin network itself cannot be destroyed in the future.

Prioritizing security over flexibility and functionality could allow Bitcoin to evolve into a decentralized financial network that cannot be censored or restricted by any governing entity, and that allows users to settle payments relatively quickly with very low fees compared to traditional banks.

As the Bitcoin network scales, transaction delays are becoming more and more uncomfortable for everyday users. Some have also expressed concerns about the growing Bitcoin transaction fees, which currently average $0.32 per transaction. The $0.32 fee should be enough for transactions to be confirmed within a few hours.

However, the Core development team and industry leaders are not particularly concerned about the rising fees, as security is their priority. Core developers are currently focusing on introducing software solutions such as Segregated Witness (SegWit), which can significantly expand the Bitcoin network without incurring major security risks like hard fork solutions.

Users and investors do not need to worry too much about Bitcoin’s scalability, as there is already a scalability and transaction malleability solution in SegWit and two-layer solutions such as the Lightning Network and Tumblebit. In particular, the Lightning Network can facilitate small Bitcoin payments, opening the door to many applications that rely on Bitcoin micropayments.

Bitcoin is still a technology in its early stages. Currently, the Bitcoin network allows people to make payments that were not possible before. Before Bitcoin, users could not imagine being able to complete a million-dollar transaction in a few hours with a transaction fee of less than $1, without the need for the presence and intervention of a regulatory entity or bank.

As Lombrozo explained,

“Bitcoin is about financial sovereignty. If you think Bitcoin is just about fast and cheap, you’re selling yourself short.”

Bitcoin’s current structure makes it difficult for two-layer solutions to exist. However, soft forks, such as SegWit, eliminate Bitcoin’s transaction malleability and change Bitcoin’s design to accommodate two-layer solutions, making Bitcoin a fast, cheap, and secure financial network for mainstream users.

Lombrozo believes that activating SegWit, implementing multi-layer solutions and introducing other innovative solutions will make Bitcoin an important technology that provides users with freedom, privacy, independence and flexibility.

Lombrozo noted:

“You can make the Bitcoin network fast and cheap with a multi-layer solution. The current network design does not allow this to happen at scale. I hope that is not the case. Unfortunately, a hard fork solution has significant political costs and security risks. I hope that is not the case either.”