Former Meta Crypto Head Announces Bitcoin Payments Startup Lightspark

• There are currently 3,807.15 BTC in the Lightning Network’s system.
• Some of the former Meta workers have joined him at this new venture.

David Marcus, the former head of Meta’s cryptocurrency project, is reaffirming his belief in the potential role that cryptocurrencies might play in future payments. Lightspark, a new cryptocurrency startup, was unveiled this week by Marcus and others on social media. It wants to use crypto’s powers for the payments sector.

David tweeted:

“I wanted to share that we are starting a new company called @lightspark to explore, build and extend the capabilities and utility of #Bitcoin. As a first step, we’re actively assembling a team to dive deeper into the Lightning Network. (1/3)”

Low Transaction Cost Appealing

Marcus is not the only one tasked with this. Some of the former Meta workers have joined him at this new venture. Even though the company’s specifics are still hazy, Marcus said that the second-layer scaling mechanism for Bitcoin, Lightning Network (LN), would be used.

Over this, A16z and Paradigm have co-led an early investment round with an unknown sum raised for Marcus, even though the firm is still in its exploratory stages. Thrive Capital, Coatue, Felix Capital, Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, and Zeev Ventures were the other investors in the round. With the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and the stock market’s decline, the timing of Lightspark’s opening may not be ideal for some. On the other hand, Marcus shrugged aside these criticisms on social media.

The Lightning Network has been criticized in the crypto world, but its low transaction costs make it an appealing option for a payments firm. There are currently 3,807.15 BTC in the Lightning Network’s system, with more than 17,000 active nodes, according to a site called 1ML, which monitors the network’s activity.