Bitcoin Marks a New Era

The Bitcoin network has now been running live since Jan 3rd, 2009. Few were privy to what had transpired at the time, but looking back, we can say this marked the beginning of a new era in finance, digital assets and property. The notion of what money is, is forever transformed. We now have a digital representation of value that can traverse through space and time. This is unlike any other monetary unit before in human history. A paradigm shift in the digital age, a necessary evolution has transpired.

This is the promise of Bitcoin.

Along the way, there have been many struggles and technical hurdles. Even now, there still remain many areas of improvement to work on and many problems to solve. Bitcoin represents a fundamental shift in thought, behavior, and imagination, to what is possible. Such a system, neutral from centralized control or shifting political winds, has never been established on a global scale. A programmable system that is providing truth, fairness and justice in the form of sound money without the need to trust anyone.

It's often understated how Bitcoin is a remarkable achievement in computer science. Solving the double spending problem and distributed consensus has plagued computer scientists for decades. Not to mention how much time and energy has been contributed by individuals around the world helping to push this project along. That is a remarkable achievement in itself.

Against all odds, there has been a binding element perpetuating this project.

Many still do not understand how a digital asset, created from nothing, valued at nothing, can surpass the market cap of some of the most well known, profitable companies in the world. It is beyond comprehension if you’re thinking in a vacuum based on old primitives. But, correctly understood, Bitcoin’s meteoric rise becomes less questionable and more inevitable.

Why is this?

Properly aligned incentives.

Many people from across the world have been participating in this Bitcoin project because they have been incentivized to in some way. Now the tide has turned in our favor, not by happenstance, but by design. Over time, the incentives have proven to be strong and have continued to proliferate Bitcoin more everyday. The network effect has grown leaps and bounds, adopted in ways we could hardly imagine a few years ago.

While much progress has been made, barriers remain to see the promise of Bitcoin becoming the world’s reserve currency. There is still much work to do. Practical solutions are needed that enable ease of use, lower the barrier to entry, and empower more users to take advantage of Bitcoin's benefits.

Today, the most exciting Bitcoin developments happening in additional layers, like the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network has made huge strides in building a scalable solution for everyday transactions. Added layers on Bitcoin are also unlocking more functionality and use cases. There are a number of projects that are bringing actual DeFi to Bitcoin, which is the most liquid digital asset on the planet.

This has been the driving motivation behind what we’re focused on at BlockSpaces. We’re excited to launch our first product, Bitcoin Invoicing and Payments. Our integration platform enables traditional business applications to use a Lightning node to process payments. We want to provide a way for every business in the world to use Bitcoin for payments via the Lightning Network.

The first integration we support on the Lightning Network is with Quickbooks. Our non-custodial solution allows any business that uses QuickBooks to accept Bitcoin payments directly. Invoices are automatically logged into their QuickBooks as normal. Business accountants around the world can rejoice at not having to be burdened tracking the cost basis for every transaction on a spreadsheet or having to login to a separate system of record to reconcile invoices. It's simple.

And we’re just getting started. Over this next year, we’ll be adding a few dozen other integrations with business systems such as Netsuite, SAP, Sage, Xero, and many more in the coming months.

Our goal is to make it practical and easy for every business to use Bitcoin. No more barriers to entry. We hope you take advantage of our new offering, as a subscription to Bitcoin Invoicing & Payments costs just $1.00/month. It has never been easier for a business to adopt a new payment method! Bitcoin is available worldwide, all day every day, nights, weekends through the holidays, without blackout days.

This is how peer-to-peer payments can be used in a real world scenario. Realizing the promise of what Bitcoin initiated fourteen years ago, we could not be more excited to be doing what we can to contribute to this mission. This is one of the most important things to focus on right now. I'm proud that our company is on the forefront of this innovation and adoption for businesses.