Jack Dorsey says that virtual currencies built using distributed ledgers will be the next big breakthrough

Bitcoin will overtake the dollar in importance as it becomes the single global currency of the internet within a decade, Jack Dorsey, one of Silicon Valley’s leading entrepreneurs, has said.

Despite recent weakness in the value of bitcoin and concerns that it cannot currently process transactions fast or cheaply enough to act as a currency, Mr Dorsey, who is chief executive of both Twitter and the payments company Square, believes that bitcoin will overcome these obstacles and will be used to buy everyday items such as coffee.

Bitcoin is the world’s most popular digital currency and the best-known application of blockchain technology. It exists only as strings of computer code in an immutable, distributed digital public ledger. Created nine years ago, it came to prominence