Ciphrex founder: Bitcoin payments are not mature enough to be used as a daily payment method

For many people today, it seems impossible to fully understand the Bitcoin blockchain technology. But those who have been paying attention to this technology for a long time may be able to talk about what will happen next from a deeper perspective. Eric Lombrozo is the founder and CTO of cryptocurrency security company Ciphrex. He has participated in the coding projects of several related digital currency blockchains, such as Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum. Eric Lombrozo has been following the development of this technology for a long time, and he will soon attend the "Explore Bitcoin Technology" conference in San Diego, where he will give a speech on the future development of cryptocurrency. Before that, Lombrozo accepted an interview with Inside Bitcoins and shared some of his views on the future development prospects of Bitcoin technology and blockchain-based systems.

New protocol will use blockchain as a layer of settlement protocol

While many Bitcoin supporters believe that the future direction should be that all transactions will eventually be processed directly on the blockchain, Lombrozo has a different view on the future development of cryptocurrencies. In his view, new protocols built on blockchain technology are the key to carrying the future development prospects of encryption technology.

“We are seeing some pretty big innovation happening, especially in layered protocol design and cross-blockchain contracts. Things like payment channels and the Lightning Network are creating a new generation of cryptographic protocols.”

Speaking about the issue of micropayment protocols, Lombrozo said that innovation in these protocols could lead to the Bitcoin protocol (or other blockchains) being used as a primary layer of settlement protocols.

“Increasingly, I think blockchain will become a major layer in future settlement protocols, allowing us to build protocol layers on top so we can negotiate contracts directly with each other. Blockchains can provide clear settlement guarantees, but settlement directly on the blockchain is too slow and expensive to support for specific applications. With layered protocols, the contracts themselves don’t always have to directly touch the blockchain, making small instant payments a reality.”

Lombrozo added that for the Bitcoin network to handle small transactions, the protocol must be scalable:

“If we can enable trustless micropayments, then we’ll eventually be able to find a secure way to scale this technology.”

Altcoins and Alternative Blockchains

As a technician with experience in researching multiple blockchain technologies and FinTech protocols, Lombrozo also has his own unique views on competing coins and competing blockchains. Although Lombrozo believes that different cryptocurrencies have their value, when it comes to security, too many blockchains will cause problems.

“I think there is room for different types of tokens, from generated tokens to issued tokens. But we need to carefully distinguish between tokens and blockchains. Irreversibility and censorship resistance provide strong guarantees for blockchain technology. Blockchains must be public, permissionless and unhackable. If the computer architecture of the hash is split into many different chains, it will weaken the role of all chains and make them more vulnerable to attacks.”

Bitcoin is not a replacement for credit cards

Finally, Eric Lombrozo pointed out that Bitcoin is not mature enough to replace credit cards. Bitcoin developers should focus on creating new types of transactions rather than trying to replace traditional payment methods that are already deeply rooted and dominant in people's lives.

Lombrozo explained:

“Many people have been working to promote Bitcoin payments in traditional retail. Perhaps this can be achieved, but it will take a long time. We must recognize the reality that in the early stages of the development of Bitcoin technology, digital currency cannot be used as a means of daily payment.

Lombrozo will speak more about bitcoin technology and the future of cryptocurrencies at the Discover Bitcoin conference in San Diego on December 15.

Original article: http://insidebitcoins.com/news/ciphrex-ceo-lombrozo-the-bitcoin-blockchain-will-be-a-settlement-layer/35568
Author: JP Buntinx
Translator: slieta5
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information