Elon Musk is pursuing ambitious goals. The first manned mission of his space company SpaceX is due in 2029 fly to Mars, in 2050 there should be a colony - and purchases on the red planet could then be made with Bitcoin. In a meeting on X, formerly Twitter, he discussed the possibility of using the cryptocurrency on Mars with an illustrious panel.

Bitcoin to... Mars?

"It would make sense to use some kind of cryptocurrency on Mars," Musk explained. Because of the relatively long confirmation times and distance from Earth, he initially ruled out Bitcoin: "You wouldn't be able to use Bitcoin because it takes too long to synchronize."

Later, however, the entrepreneur changed his mind: "Maybe you could use Bitcoin to some extent, but it would be difficult on Mars," Musk said. He agreed with participating Bitcoin developer Matt Corallo that the Lightning Network could accommodate Bitcoin's slow transaction speed. "Mars may be about 20 light minutes away from us. So it's not easy, there would have to be a localized thing on Mars."

The block time for Bitcoin is ten minutes. Transactions are completed after six blocks, that is, after an hour. According to Adam Back, however, the distance is not an obstacle, even without the Lightning Network. The CEO of Blockstream and Bitcoin pioneer gave on X the following comment: "12-22 lightning minutes is not a problem with blocks of 10 minutes".

Bitcoin integration on X?

Musk also sparked longstanding speculation about an integration of Bitcoin on X. Last December, he held out the prospect of a payment feature on the platform. According to the plan it should also be possible to pay via X by the middle of this year. In space, he said he was "open to the idea of using Bitcoin." It remains to be seen how serious this statement was. The Wall Street Journal reported recently about Elon Musk's drug use.