The co-founder of payments company Lightspark focused on the Bitcoin Lightning network has just spoken out about the archaic state of the international payments system. This September 12, on CNBC, David Marcus returned to the potential of the Bitcoin network and affirmed his commitment to making it a global payment system.
In short
- David Marcus, co-founder of Lightspark, criticizes the current international payment system, calling it archaic and comparable to the fax age.
- Marcus sees the Bitcoin Lightning Network as the solution for fast, efficient and affordable cross-border payments.
- While promising to maximize Bitcoin’s potential, Marcus highlights the technical and regulatory challenges that need to be overcome.
The international payments system is stuck in the fax age
In the CNBC show on September 12, 2023, David Marcus, who is also the former CEO of PayPal, lamented the current state of the cross-border money transfer system. For him, “the non-existence of a standard mechanism for sending money online” in the digital age poses a problem.
Marcus says the process of transferring funds is currently cumbersome, with technology “stuck in the fax age”. He cites, among other things, the need to provide information and high fees for making wire transfers to non-US residents. And that’s without taking into account the fact that “after Friday at 5 p.m., no luck” for an international bank transfer.
For the co-founder of Bitcoin Lightning Network, “it is time for the world to have an open and universal payment protocol”. To meet this need, David Marcus therefore offers a single solution: the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
Bitcoin: soon a global cross-border payment network?
Indeed, Marcus, reassured by the potential of bitcoin, asserts that cryptocurrency must be more than a store of value or a hedge against inflation. For him, cryptocurrency can play a more important role in the global financial ecosystem. After recalling the progress that the flagship crypto has made over the past ten years, he affirmed that the usefulness of cryptocurrency can evolve.
For the former CEO of PayPal, bitcoin will need to evolve to enable faster, more accessible, more efficient and cheaper cross-border money transactions. It is on this condition, he specifies, that cryptocurrency can finally become a true “open and universal payment protocol”, like PayPal.
As CEO of Lightspark, David pledged to “do whatever it takes” to “expand the utility of cryptocurrency in cross-border payments.”
Bitcoin scalability issues and regulatory challenges ahead
If Marcus promises to realize the full potential of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, he has touched on the challenges to overcome in making bitcoin evolve. It states that the Bitcoin Lightning Network will resolve technical issues related to the scalability of bitcoin. He also highlighted the need for collaboration with regulators to make bitcoin a regular global payment solution.
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