David Marcus’s Lightspark launches Lightning Network platform for businesses

The Lightspark startup by David Marcus unveiled a platform to connect businesses to the Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) micro-payments network.

The team described the Lightspark Platform as ‘the first enterprise-grade entry point to the LN’.

The former head of Meta’s payments division announced the launch aimed at expanding the company’s use of Bitcoin in May 2022.

According to Marcus, the Internet needs a payment protocol that ‘works 24/7, settles transactions in near real-time, is very cheap, interoperable, and open to all.’ The Lightning Network provides all of these qualities, the entrepreneur asserts.

Thrilled to unveil the @Lightspark Platform today. We believe the Internet badly needs an open payment protocol. One that works 24/7, settles in near real-time, is dirt cheap, interoperable, and open to all to build on. Money should move online like emails or text messages, and… pic.twitter.com/6YJERkAYr8

— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) April 11, 2023

One of the obstacles to broad adoption of the protocol is the complexity of using this Bitcoin-based payment solution.

Lightspark Platform addresses this problem, Marcus says:

“The LN’s inherent complexity and lengthy onboarding are a thing of the past. It is now intuitive to send or receive payments on the network, or to create payment methods without the restrictions of outdated channels.”

Earlier, the startup helped implement the integration of the payment protocol for the cryptocurrency private bank Xapo Bank. Clients of the institution could pay in Bitcoin for purchases up to $100.

According to Glassnode, at the time of writing LN capacity stands at 4,873 BTC, the number of channels is 56,950. The metrics fell from their highs but since the second half of March have been gradually recovering, according to an analytical report by ForkLog.

As head of Meta’s blockchain division (then Facebook, now Meta), Marcus helped develop the Libra digital currency project. Due to regulatory pressure, it was never launched.

At the end of 2021, the executive announced his departure from Meta. He described himself as a big Bitcoin enthusiast and stated confidence in the future of the first cryptocurrency.