One of the longest running criticisms of Bitcoin is that it cannot function as everyday money.

The network’s proof of work design is energy intensive, transactions can take minutes to confirm, and throughput is limited compared to traditional payment rails like Visa or Mastercard.

On Bitcoin’s base layer, those criticisms are largely fair, but a recent real world test suggests that may no longer be the full story.

During an interview with TheStreet Roundtable, Di Lewis, CFO of BTC Inc., described how a Bitcoin-focused conference in Las Vegas processed more than 5,000 cryptocurrency transactions over an eight-hour period — without relying on Bitcoin’s base layer.

Instead, the event used the Lightning Network.

At the conference, vendors with no prior experience using Bitcoin were trained on the same day. According to Lewis, adoption friction was minimal.

Merchants entered a dollar amount, generated a QR code, and customers scanned it to complete payment. Some attendees used “Bolt cards,” NFC-enabled cards that function similarly to contactless debit or credit cards but connect directly to Lightning wallets.