Recently, PayPal‘s former president expressed new pro-crypto views, specifically reaffirming their commitment to building on Bitcoin Lightning and working to realize its full potential.
He also stresses that the time has come when the world needs a universal open protocol for payments. See below for all the details.
Summary
The major push toward crypto adoption by the former president of PayPal
As anticipated, the former president of PayPal recently stated that they are developing systems on Bitcoin Lightning, as he believes the time has come for the world to adopt a universal open protocol for payments.
Previously, David Marcus, who was the former president of PayPal, pointed out that only Bitcoin has the potential to support a truly open protocol for Internet payments.
Although he is famous for his involvement in Facebook’s Libra project (later called Diem), it is his extensive experience in the digital payments industry that gives Marcus particular authority.
Since the 2000s, in fact, Marcus has been interested in the world of online payments and founded a company specializing in mobile media monetization.
In addition, in 2008, following the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto, Marcus started Zong, a service that allowed users to pay for items online directly from their cell phones.
Zong was later acquired by PayPal and eBay, and in 2011 Marcus took over as vice president and general manager of PayPal’s mobile division.
Then, in 2017, David Marcus entered the cryptocurrency world as a board member of Coinbase, leveraging his extensive experience in the digital payments industry gained from PayPal and Facebook.
However, in 2018, Marcus was forced to leave his position at Coinbase due to a conflict of interest stemming from his appointment as head of Facebook’s experimental blockchain group.
Bitcoin’s whitepaper from Marcus’s perspective: a revelation
Despite the above, Marcus’ interest and support for Bitcoin had been well known for many years, long before his involvement in Libra/Diem and his appointment to Coinbase’s board of directors in 2017.
Indeed, in a recent interview, Marcus revealed that he had read Bitcoin’s whitepaper shortly after its publication, although he had not yet delved deeply into it.
Back in 2012, while working at PayPal, Marcus was introduced to blockchain when the company faced a crisis in Argentina due to a government-imposed blockade of money transfers.
It was then that he sensed the potential of Bitcoin as an immutable peer-to-peer payment network. Marcus then attended the 2013 Bitcoin conference in San Jose, California, where he was fascinated by the revolution Bitcoin was bringing to the world of digital payments.
In 2018, he met with Elizabeth Stark, CEO of Lightning Labs, to explore the possibilities of using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network for Facebook’s Libra project. However, due to the limitations of the Lightning Network at that time, the idea was shelved.
After leaving Facebook in 2021, Marcus became interested in the Lightning Network again and began developing solutions on LN to make a tool suitable for the masses in 2022.
Former PayPal president in favor of Bitcoin as the only blockchain solution
Today, the former president of PayPal has a clear opinion about Bitcoin and other blockchain-based solutions. According to him, creating a decentralized solution on any blockchain other than Bitcoin would have been a futile exercise.
Marcus also pointed out that only Bitcoin and its underlying assets can effectively support an open protocol for Internet payments in a fully decentralized manner.
The Lightspark team, led by Marcus, shares this perspective. Although there are several technological alternatives to Bitcoin, none of them achieves the same level of decentralization.
It is important to note that decentralization can vary on different levels and has no absolute meaning. Bitcoin is currently the cryptocurrency with the highest degree of decentralization, followed by Ethereum, albeit at a distance.
Many other blockchain-based projects have a lower level of decentralization or, in some cases, none at all. Hence, the real revolution introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in late 2008 and early 2009 was precisely decentralization.
Without this fundamental feature, cryptocurrencies would lose their innovative power and be simply another inefficient technology for transferring value.
Since Bitcoin is currently the most decentralized cryptocurrency available, it is understandable that many see it as the only one capable of truly revolutionizing the industry, although Ethereum remains a strong contender.
