Musk: Considering using Bitcoin on Mars

Author: Ciaran Lyons, Cointelegraph; Compiler: Songxue, Golden Finance

Although Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk initially expressed concern about using Bitcoin as currency on Mars, The idea was hesitant, but he might have just changed his tune on the issue.

In an X Spaces post titled “ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) Approved” by ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, Musk initially rejected the use of Bitcoin as Mars currency due to settlement Trading takes a lot of time.

"It would make sense to use some kind of cryptocurrency on Mars, but you can't use Bitcoin because settlement times would be too long."

Musk, who has been working to establish a colony on Mars by 2050, believes humans must evolve into a multi-planetary species to survive.

However, after verbally brainstorming on his own, Musk concluded that this is actually not true considering that Earth is only 8 light minutes from the Sun and Mars is about 12 light minutes from the Sun. It might be possible — though it would still face obstacles.

"Maybe you could use Bitcoin to some extent, but it would be difficult to use it in large quantities on Mars," he said, adding that a localized network may be needed on Earth:

"Mars is about twenty light minutes away from us. So, it's not easy, there has to be something localized on Mars."

After that,Musk agreed to Bitcoin Core development According to author Matt Corallo, the problem of slow Bitcoin transaction speeds can be solved through a localized Lightning Network.

Bitcoin currently takes up to an hour to secure a transaction because its blockchain assembles transactions into 10-minute blocks, requiring six confirmations before a transaction is finalized block.

However, regardless of whether Bitcoin has a native Lightning Network in its current form, Blockstream CEO Adam Back is more optimistic about the idea. He replied in a Spaces post: "12-22 light minutes is no problem for 10-minute blocks."

In April 2023, Glassnode data showed that the cost of using the Bitcoin Lightning Network Significantly lower than other traditional payment methods.

According to Glassnode, the cost of sending value over the Lightning Network is 0.0029%, which is about 1,000 times cheaper than Mastercard or Visa payment processors.

Meanwhile, there is speculation about whether Musk will use cryptocurrencies on X as he plans to turn it into an "everything app."

According to reports in January 2023, two people familiar with Plan X said that the payment function could accommodate cryptocurrencies if given the opportunity.

On August 5, Musk replied to a user on X that he would “never” launch a crypto token on X.