Twitter founder and long-time Bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey has once again divided the crypto community. On Sunday, he posted a short but explosive message on X: “Bitcoin is not crypto.” The post quickly went viral, generating thousands of comments and reigniting the debate over what Bitcoin truly is—and what it isn’t.

Bitcoin is not “crypto,” says Dorsey

According to Dorsey, Bitcoin stands apart from what people commonly call “cryptocurrencies.” He argues that Bitcoin is closer to money than to speculative digital assets dominating today’s crypto market. His statement echoed a previous post where he simply wrote: “Bitcoin is money.”

Dorsey pointed out that the original 2008 whitepaper doesn’t mention the word “crypto” at all. Written by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, the document describes Bitcoin as “a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” and “an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.”

To Dorsey, that proves Bitcoin was designed as a form of money, not an investment tool or part of the broader “crypto” ecosystem now filled with tokens, stablecoins, and NFTs.

Speculation about Dorsey and Nakamoto

Dorsey has long been seen as one of the most influential Bitcoin maximalists—and rumors linking him to Satoshi Nakamoto have circulated for years.

Earlier this year, journalist Seán Murray from deBanked listed clues connecting Dorsey to Nakamoto, though no solid evidence has emerged. In a 2020 interview with Lex Fridman, Dorsey denied the theory, saying: “No. And if I were, would I tell you?”

“Bitcoin is money,” says Dorsey through his companies

Dorsey backs up his statement with action. His company Block (formerly Square) is developing payment infrastructure to enable BTC transactions with zero fees. In a recent exchange on X, he responded to a user who claimed that thanks to Square’s planned removal of transaction fees by 2026, he convinced all local vendors to accept Bitcoin payments.

Dorsey has also urged tech firms to integrate Bitcoin as a payment method. In April, he encouraged developers of the Signal Messenger app to enable direct BTC transactions between users.

Mixed reactions from the crypto community

Dorsey’s statement split even prominent crypto figures. David Schwartz, CTO of Ripple, commented that he wasn’t entirely sure what Dorsey meant: “I think he’s saying Bitcoin should be seen more as a payment system than a speculative asset. But I’m not sure.”

Many experts share that view, suggesting Dorsey was pointing out how the crypto world has strayed from its original goal of decentralized payments, focusing instead on trading, DeFi, and memecoins.

Sources:

https://x.com/jack/status/1979880332175495586

https://x.com/jack/status/1980043761444085968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60KJz1BVTyU&t=1395s

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=238.0

https://x.com/jamie_selects/status/1979641657155895443

https://x.com/JoelKatz/status/1980165151811830108

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-is-not-crypto-jack-dorsey-community-debate