Blockchain technology has been a huge topic of conversation at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the subject was brought up by TechCrunch’s Matt Burns during a panel that featured TransferWise co-founder and CEO Taavet Hinrikus and MasterCard President of International Markets Ann Cairns. Both participants on the panel seemed to agree with the popular sentiment of dismissing Bitcoin while embracing its underlying technology, and Cairns even stated that MasterCard is testing the blockchain in its labs.
At one point during the panel discussion, Hinrikus questioned whether MasterCard could eventually be disrupted by blockchain technology.
MasterCard Doubts Bitcoin Longevity
When Matt Burns brought up the topic of Bitcoin, Cairns was quick to dismiss the digital cash system. She started by criticizing Bitcoin’s usefulness as a currency:
“I absolutely see a future for blockchain,” she said. “Bitcoin is just something that uses blockchain, and I don’t think the current construct of Bitcoin particularly has longevity. It behaves more like a commodity than a currency.”
The MasterCard official then took aim at the transaction speeds on the Bitcoin network. Although Bitcoin transactions are broadcast instantly, it takes an average of five minutes for a transaction to be confirmed in a block (a new block is mined every 10 minutes).
“It’s very slow,” Cairns said. “I mean, you read a lot of stuff in the press, but right now, it takes about 10 minutes to do a transaction. Imagine you’re waiting for a train. Do you just want to go through the barrier and tap your card, or do you want to wait 10 minutes for your bitcoins?”
Although Cairns claims about confirmation times are true, there are a number of workarounds for this problem currently in development. Off-chain solutions, such as Stash and the Lightning Network, currently hold the most promise in this area. There are also plenty of options for merchants to accept unconfirmed transactions
In addition to her points on the technical workings of Bitcoin, Cairns also discussed the issue of the cryptocurrency’s association with Silk Road and other controversial use cases.
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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/mastercard-and-transferwise-executives-debate-blockchain-disruption-at-davos-1453735643
