David Marcus, former cryptocurrency head at Meta, is launching Lightspark, another payments company that will use crypto as its central payment tool. The startup, which will have Marcus at the helm as CEO, also features some of Meta’s former employees and will explore the possibilities of using the layer 2 Lightning Network (LN) as a vehicle for bitcoin payments.

Meta’s Former Crypto Boss Kickstarts Lightspark

David Marcus, former cryptocurrency project boss at Meta, is doubling down on the importance he thinks crypto might have for payments in the future. Marcus announced this week on social media he and others were launching a cryptocurrency company called Lightspark that aims to harness the capabilities of crypto for the payments area.

Marcus is not alone in this task. He took on some of the former Meta employees for this startup. While the details of the company are still scarce, Marcus explained that Lightning Network (LN), the second layer scalability protocol for Bitcoin, will be involved. On this, he stated:

As a first step, we’re actively assembling a team to dive deeper into the Lightning Network.

While the company is still in exploratory phases, Marcus has been able to attract major names in the VC arena, including A16z and Paradigm, who have co-led an initial investing round with an undisclosed amount raised. Other VCs that participated in the round include Thrive Capital, Coatue, Felix Capital, Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, and Zeev Ventures.

Bear Market and Lightning Network

To some, the timing of the launch of Lightspark might not be the best, as the market faces a downturn with the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and the fall of the stock market. However, Marcus brushed off these comments on social media explaining…