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- Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey said he would leave the companies to focus on bitcoin if needed.
- Higher profits will drive crypto miners to use cheaper renewable energy, he said at the Bitcoin 2021 conference.
- Governments are trying to block cryptocurrency use to avoid losing hold of power, Dorsey said.
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Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey said he would leave the helm of the two publicly-traded US companies to work on bitcoin if needed, speaking in an interview at the Bitcoin 2021 conference earlier this month.
He argued that bitcoin miners have a profit incentive to use green energy in their operations, which have come under fire for the huge amounts of electricity they can consume. He also said central-bank concerns and roadblocks to cryptocurrencies are just excuses to prevent losing power, speaking in an interview with the Human Rights Foundation's Alex Gladstein.
Here are Dorsey's 9 best quotes from the interview, lightly edited and condensed for clarity:
1. "If I were not at Square or Twitter, I'd be working on bitcoin. If it (bitcoin) needed more help than Square and Twitter, I'd leave them for bitcoin. But I believe both companies have a role to play, and I think anything that we can do as companies to help find the right intersection between a corporate narrative and a community open narrative is for the best." – on making bitcoin more accessible.
2. "Bitcoin changes absolutely everything, and what I'm drawn to the most about it is the ethos – what it represents, how conditions that created it are so rare and so special and so precious. And I don't think there's anything more important in my lifetime to work on, and I don't think there's anything more enabling for people around the world." – on bitcoin as a tool for protecting human rights, rather than just an investment.
3. "We don't need the banks anymore." – on billions of people around the world not having a bank account.
4. "That's why we don't deal with any other currencies or coins - because we're so focused on making bitcoin the native currency for the internet." - on financial payments provider Square's ambitions for bitcoin.
5. "What central banks are trying to do are just bumps in the road, and they're bulls---. We have a much better alternative in bitcoin. We have designs for that sort of privacy and that freedom within it. And the more we can - especially our governments - can realize that, and get in the boat sooner, the better off we all are." - on central banks developing their own digital currencies as a move away from paper money.
6. "It feels like there's probably something a little bit deeper when you're hearing any of these excuses. And it's just trying to understand what that really is, and I think it's really (about) losing power, effectively." - on government bodies and critics characterizing bitcoin as connected with criminal activity.
7. "It can't, and it never will." - on the chance of Wall Street controlling bitcoin.
8. "Ultimately, miners have to make a profit. And getting cheap renewable energy maximizes their potential for profit. It's really that simple, and I thought I had some agreement with some notable figures out there. Then that seemed to change over a matter of few weeks, and now it's in a weird kind of place. But I believe fully that bitcoin over time and today does incentivize more renewable energy." - on how bitcoin mining incentivizes use of renewable energy.
9. "Just that realization that we finally have a currency that can be traded to any single point on the planet is pretty incredible, and what that enables going forward is mind-blowing. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens." - on the potential for bitcoin's widespread use.