Elizabeth Stark

Co-Founder & CEO of Lightning Labs

Elizabeth Stark is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lightning Labs, the company that builds and maintains LND (Lightning Network Daemon) — one of the most widely deployed Lightning Network implementations. Stark co-founded Lightning Labs to develop open-source infrastructure that makes Bitcoin payments faster, cheaper, and programmable, turning Bitcoin's Layer-1 settlement layer into a platform for real-time global payments.

Stark previously taught internet law and technology policy at Stanford and Yale, where she developed expertise in open protocols, internet infrastructure, and digital rights. She became an early and vocal advocate for the Lightning Network — a Bitcoin Layer-2 payment protocol originally described in the 2016 whitepaper by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja — and co-founded Lightning Labs to build production infrastructure for the protocol.

Lightning Labs & LND

Lightning Labs' flagship product is LND (Lightning Network Daemon), an open-source Go implementation of the Lightning Network protocol. LND is used by thousands of routing nodes, wallets, exchanges, and payment processors worldwide. Lightning Labs also maintains related infrastructure including Loop (submarine swaps for channel liquidity management) and Pool (a peer-to-peer marketplace for Lightning liquidity).

Important note: The Lightning Network is an open protocol; Lightning Labs is one of several independent teams building Lightning implementations (alongside ACINQ/Phoenix and Blockstream/Core Lightning). Stark co-founded Lightning Labs as a commercial implementer, not as an inventor of the Lightning Network protocol itself.

Taproot Assets

Lightning Labs developed Taproot Assets (formerly Taro), a protocol built on top of Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade that allows issuers to mint assets — including stablecoins and custom tokens — on the Bitcoin blockchain and transfer them via the Lightning Network. Taproot Assets v0.4 reached mainnet alpha in 2023, and subsequent versions have expanded multi-asset Lightning functionality. As of 2026, this enables stablecoin transfers at Lightning speed over Bitcoin's network.

Current 2026 Work

As of August 2026, Stark continues as Co-Founder and CEO of Lightning Labs. Key focus areas include: Taproot Assets multi-asset Lightning transfers, stablecoin issuance and transfer on Bitcoin, developer tooling for Lightning-native applications, and Lightning's emerging role in AI-agent micropayments (L402/LSAT HTTP authentication protocol for machine payments). Stark has been an active industry advocate for Bitcoin payments and regulatory clarity for Lightning-based stablecoin systems.

Key Contributions

• Lightning Labs Co-Founding: Built LND — a production Lightning implementation used globally by exchanges, wallets, and payment processors.
• Taproot Assets Protocol: Led Lightning Labs' development of the Taproot Assets protocol enabling multi-asset (stablecoin/token) transfers on Bitcoin via Lightning.
• Bitcoin Payment Infrastructure: Drove significant growth in Lightning Network adoption by providing enterprise-grade open-source tooling.
• Internet Law & Open Protocols Advocacy: Brought technical policy expertise from Stanford/Yale teaching to Bitcoin and Lightning regulatory advocacy.
• Machine Payments/L402: Pioneered L402/LSAT as an HTTP authentication protocol enabling Lightning-native API monetization for AI agents and software services.

Career Timeline

Sources & Verification

• lightning.engineering
• X/Twitter @starkness

Note: A direct LinkedIn profile URL for Elizabeth Stark was not confidently verified. LinkedIn is omitted rather than guessed.

Information last checked: August 2026