Decoder with Nilay Patel

Bitcoin is still the future of payments, says Lightspark CEO David Marcus

Apr 25, 2023

David Marcus, CEO of Lightspark and former Meta and PayPal executive, shares insights on Bitcoin's role in future payments. He discusses the launch of a new service utilizing the Lightning Network for fast Bitcoin transactions. The conversation touches on the challenges faced by previous initiatives like Libra and emphasizes the need for sustainable crypto solutions. Marcus explores innovative concepts like streaming money and how they could revolutionize content monetization while addressing regulatory hurdles and the complexities of user engagement with the Lightning Network.

50:45

Episode guests

David Marcus

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

2min

Navigating the Future of Cryptocurrency

18min

Cost-Effectiveness of Lightning Payment Solutions

3min

Revolutionizing Payments with Streaming Money

3min

Startup Strategies and Culture

7min

Reimagining Bitcoin: From Investment to Transactional Tool

3min

Exploring the Future of Payments and Satoshis in Decentralized Networks

3min

Navigating the Lightning Network and Bitcoin's Future

13min

We’ve got a special episode with Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge and a familiar host for Decoder listeners, and David Marcus, the CEO of Lightspark. That’s a company that just launched a service to make fast transactions using Bitcoin on something called the Lightning Network. David was previously at PayPal, and then he led Meta’s big payments effort that went nowhere, but he’s got a lot to say about where crypto and payments are right now.

Links:

Launching the Lightspark Platform

Facebook tells Congress how it thinks Libra should be regulated - The Verge

The leader of Facebook’s stalled cryptocurrency project is leaving the company - The Verge

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/23460507

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

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