In a Congressional committee meeting this Wednesday Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey shared his plans to use blockchain technology to solve the social media platform’s famed issues.
Prompted by California Representative Doris Matsui inquiry into Dorsey’s past stated interest in blockchain applications during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, Dorsey responded: “Blockchain is one [solution] that I think has a lot of untapped potential, specifically around distributed trust and distributed enforcement potentially.”
The committee meeting discussion was centered around issues like privacy protections and alleged Twitter political bias against conservatives specifically. Dorsey told Congress he feels Twitter should use all the best technology available to them to address these issues. However, he admitted that Twitter has not gone so far down the blockchain integration rabbit hole just yet saying:
“We haven’t gone as deep as we’d like just yet in understanding how we might apply this technology to the problems we’re facing at Twitter, but we do have people within the company thinking about it today.”
Twitter and cryptocurrency do not have the sunniest past considering the ICO advertising ban and other fraudulent activity associated with identity scams fleecing the Twitter community out of their digital currency. Twitter could use blockchain technology to transform into the first trustless social media platform, rather than continue donning its reputation as a hotbed for scams.
Dorsey’s interest in applying blockchain solutions to his business problems doesn’t stop at Twitter though. As a CEO at Square, Dorsey can clearly see the benefits of bringing blockchain to the payment processing industry. In a 2017 interview, Dorsey called blockchain the “next big unlock”. Square’s “The Cash mobile app” already supports Bitcoin buying and selling, so it isn’t hard to imagine Dorsey announcing formal plans to integrate within the next few months.
There is legislation on the table that calls for the creation of the first official blockchain working group. The Department of Commerce would congregate this working group for the purpose of defining blockchain.
As Twitter and government being to understand blockchain’s staying power and utility they are making the initial gestures towards adoption. While both the social media giant and Congress are only stating their intentions to roll out plans, their tepid publically admitted affections for the technology and belief in the necessity for further exploration has a far-reaching and influential effect.
