Since March 3, 2022, the date of the launch of Plan B, a vast operation to deploy the use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a means of payment and education on this subject set up by the municipality of Lugano in Switzerland, the adoption rate by citizens is around 19%. Remarkable growth in just a year and a half, and when we see the Plan B Forum which highlights this initiative, we understand why.
A focus on education
One of the things that explains this exponential adoption of Bitcoin within the city is the emphasis that the public institution has placed on education. Basic teaching workshops have multiplied within the city, for young and old, consumers or traders. This strategic force can be found at the Forum, in the form of a free tent, accessible to all, where experts in the field explained in Italian, the language of the town’s inhabitants, the basics of the Bitcoin universe.
What is a wallet; how to use one; why Bitcoin is not “polluting” as we can read; or even the very philosophy of Bitcoin and its foundations: nothing was left on the sidelines. Everything was ordered in order to allow a concise and flawless understanding for anyone, even complete beginners. When we know to what extent Lugano is renowned for being a financial center in the traditional banking world, the city’s commitment to the propagation of the Bitcoin philosophy is worth highlighting!
Renowned guests from the Bitcoin universe
We could also, while walking through the rooms of the Palais des Congrès, come across real idols of the Bitcoin ideology and community. Very prominent representatives of the Cypherpunk movement, which promotes freedom of expression, privacy and the use of technologies to preserve individual freedoms, were present. Some notable names could be seen on stage such as Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, or the cryptographer Nick Szabo who is sometimes suspected of being Satoshi Nakamoto himself!
Suffice to say that the Bitcoin universe was represented in a serious way, but we can also say that it was represented in a varied way. Bitcoin culture, with the art gallery linked to it; Bitcoin and politics, with some conferences dealing in particular with regulation; the technological part, including many innovators promoting the large-scale use of this solution; and many other facets… Including one that was on everyone’s lips: the Lightning Network.
The innovation we’ve all been waiting for?
A true star of the Forum, the Lightning Network seemed to be the messiah that the ecosystem was waiting for. Indeed, the Bitcoin blockchain has always been considered slow, and difficult to use for everyday life which would involve too many transactions for the latter to support. The Lightning Network is a tool implemented on the Bitcoin blockchain to partially remedy this problem, and leaves the community truly optimistic for the future. To understand more about the Lightning Network, do not hesitate to read this article.
But is Lightning really the thing the Bitcoin ecosystem needed to grow? During various interventions, the speakers mentioned the upcoming legal and pragmatic limitations that the Lightning will encounter. The difficulty of tracing transactions, the complexity of linking tunnels or even more simply education on the subject will be barriers to overcome before being able to assert that Lightning is a savior of the scalability of Bitcoin. Lots of enthusiasm but also challenges, which gives even more determination to the community to build in the long term.
Despite everything, there is still everything to do
Although the growing adoption of Bitcoin was particularly felt throughout the event, there remains a common agreement on this fact: there is still much to be done. Education is obviously the thing that most often comes up at the heart of the subject, since with only between 5 and 6% of the world’s population owning cryptocurrencies, we can imagine that it would be the first priority. Making this world accessible to everyone is a real challenge, and a considerable part of the current ecosystem is actively engaged in this direction.
User experience tends to be the second most discussed topic when it comes to priorities for implementation in the near future. Allowing people to open a wallet easily, a quick and simple way to do KYC or even the use of general words for functionalities seen as complex for example. Finally, the lack of infrastructure allowing concrete use of Bitcoin on a daily basis is obviously a titanic barrier to be broken down little by little. This will continue to be done in the coming years by Bitcoin enthusiasts, but it will take time to get set up, like anything completed.
In short, we are on the right road
The overall feeling left by the Plan B Forum is divided between ambition, enthusiasm and determination. Doubt about Bitcoin’s position as a revolution does not seem to exist, and the only real concerns center around regulation and the difficulty of implementing all the solutions necessary for large-scale adoption. These remain very marginal, and we can clearly see that we are on the right road, and that everyone sees it that way.
As everyone liked to remind us so much during the event: WAGMI!
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