Former PayPal President Embraces Bitcoin Lightning: The Quest for a Universal Open Protocol for Payments
Recently, the former president of PayPal has expressed his strong support for cryptocurrencies, particularly emphasizing the potential of Bitcoin Lightning and advocating for the adoption of a universal open protocol for payments. David Marcus, renowned for his involvement in Facebook’s Libra project (later renamed Diem), boasts significant authority in the digital payments industry, which spans back to the early 2000s.
His interest in online payments began years ago when he founded a company specializing in mobile media monetization. In 2008, after the publication of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper, Marcus initiated Zong, a service that allowed users to make online purchases directly from their cell phones. Subsequently, Zong was acquired by PayPal and eBay, leading Marcus to become the vice president and general manager of PayPal’s mobile division in 2011.
In 2017, David Marcus made a foray into the world of cryptocurrencies by joining Coinbase’s board of directors, leveraging his extensive experience from PayPal and Facebook. However, in 2018, he had to leave Coinbase due to a conflict of interest stemming from his role as the head of Facebook’s experimental blockchain group.
It is worth noting that Marcus had been an ardent supporter of Bitcoin long before his involvement in the Libra/Diem project and his appointment to Coinbase’s board. In a recent interview, he revealed that he had read Bitcoin’s whitepaper shortly after its release, albeit without a deep understanding at the time.
In 2012, while working at PayPal, Marcus encountered blockchain when the company faced a crisis in Argentina due to a government-imposed restriction on money transfers. This experience enabled him to grasp the potential of Bitcoin as an immutable peer-to-peer payment network. In 2013, Marcus attended the Bitcoin conference in San Jose, California, where he became captivated by the revolutionary impact Bitcoin was making in the digital payments landscape.
In 2018, Marcus met with Elizabeth Stark, CEO of Lightning Labs, to explore the possibility of integrating Bitcoin and the Lightning Network into Facebook’s Libra project. However, the plan was shelved due to the limitations of the Lightning Network at that time.
Following his departure from Facebook in 2021, Marcus reignited his interest in the Lightning Network and began developing solutions on it to create a user-friendly tool for the masses, targeting 2022 as the timeline for implementation.
In his present stance, the former PayPal president firmly believes that Bitcoin stands unparalleled in its ability to support an open protocol for internet payments in a fully decentralized manner. According to Marcus, creating a decentralized solution on any blockchain other than Bitcoin would be a futile endeavor.
His conviction is shared by the Lightspark team, led by Marcus, who view Bitcoin as the most decentralized cryptocurrency available. While there are various technological alternatives to Bitcoin, none match its level of decentralization. Decentralization, in Marcus’s view, is the crux of the real revolution that Satoshi Nakamoto introduced in the late 2000s.
Marcus emphasizes that without this fundamental aspect, cryptocurrencies would lose their innovative power and become just another inefficient technology for value transfer. As of now, Bitcoin remains the primary contender to truly revolutionize the industry, with Ethereum following at a distance in terms of decentralization.
In conclusion, the former president of PayPal pay champions Bitcoin and its Lightning Network as the key to realizing the full potential of cryptocurrencies and ushering in a universal open protocol for payments. His extensive background in the digital payments sector and long-standing support for Bitcoin lend weight to his pro-crypto views and make him a notable figure in the industry.
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