David Marcus

Co-Founder & CEO of Lightspark

David Marcus is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lightspark, a company building open global money movement infrastructure using Bitcoin's Lightning Network and modern payment rails. With a career spanning payments, fintech, and digital currency — including Founder of Zong (acquired by eBay/PayPal), President of PayPal, and Head of Messaging Products at Facebook — Marcus brings unusually deep expertise in both legacy financial infrastructure and frontier digital payment systems.

At Facebook/Meta, Marcus led the Libra (later Diem) digital currency project and the Novi wallet initiative. Both were discontinued before full commercial launch following regulatory pressure. After leaving Meta, he co-founded Lightspark in 2022, focusing on open payment infrastructure rather than a new proprietary currency.

Founding Story

Lightspark was co-founded by David Marcus with Nicolas Cabane and other collaborators after Marcus' departure from Meta. The company launched with the thesis that Bitcoin's Lightning Network — when wrapped with enterprise-grade infrastructure, developer APIs, and compliance tooling — could become the backbone of a truly open, interoperable global payment system.

What Lightspark Does

Lightspark provides enterprise APIs and infrastructure for Lightning Network-based payments, enabling financial institutions, fintech companies, and payment processors to send and receive value globally at low cost and high speed. Its flagship open standard, the Universal Money Address (UMA), allows any user to have a globally interoperable payment identifier (similar in format to an email address) that works across borders and currencies, including fiat and stablecoins via Lightning.

Key products include the Lightspark Wallet and enterprise node infrastructure, allowing partners to access Lightning liquidity without managing their own infrastructure. Verified integration partners as of available information include financial institutions and payment companies across multiple jurisdictions; readers should consult Lightspark's official newsroom for the most current list.

Historical Context: Libra/Diem (Historical — Discontinued)

The Libra Association's project (later renamed Diem) aimed to create a regulated stablecoin network backed by a basket of fiat currencies. It was discontinued in 2022 before achieving commercial launch, following sustained regulatory opposition in the US and internationally. Lightspark is a separate, independent company unrelated to Diem.

Current 2026 Work

As of August 2026, Marcus serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Lightspark, continuing to develop the company's enterprise payment infrastructure and UMA standard. Lightspark's strategy focuses on Bitcoin/Lightning as an open settlement layer, interoperating with both stablecoins and fiat currencies to support global payouts and cross-border payments.

Key Contributions

• Lightspark & Enterprise Lightning: Co-founded Lightspark to bring institutional-grade Lightning Network infrastructure to enterprises and financial institutions.
• Universal Money Address (UMA): Developed and promoted UMA as an open interoperability standard for global payment addressing across Lightning, fiat, and stablecoins.
• PayPal Scale: As President of PayPal, grew the platform's global reach and helped establish digital wallets as mainstream payment tools.
• Libra/Diem (Historical): Led Meta's digital currency initiative — a significant regulatory test case that shaped global policy discussion on stablecoins and CBDC design.
• Bitcoin Payments Advocacy: Advocates for Bitcoin's Lightning Network as an open, programmable global payment infrastructure layer.

Career Timeline

Sources & Verification

• lightspark.com
• LinkedIn (dmarcus)

Information last checked: August 2026