Ex-Meta Executive David Marcus To Launch BTC-Focused Startup

Ex-Meta executive David Marcus will launch a Bitcoin-focused startup after leaving Diem a few months ago so let’s read more today in our latest crypto news.

The ex-Meta executive is setting his sight on BTC-related projects so Marcus announced the launch of Lightspark which aims to expand the utility and the capabilities of BTC. This came a few months after he left Meta’s crypto proejct DIEM where he led the project. Marcus even announced the news recently stating that the first step will be to form a team that will explore the lightning network:

“Downturns are good moments to focus on building and creating value with mission-aligned people. We’re excited to dive into Lightning, learn more, and work alongside the community. We’ll share more about our work as we make progress!”

While there’s no more information about the new startup, Lightspark’s round one is led by Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm but other investors took part in the event like Ribbit, Thrive Capital, Zeev Ventures, and Felix Capital. According to TechCrunch, Marcus will serve as the CEO of the company with some former Meta crypto members occupying the executive positions. Marcus was one of the co-creators of DIEM formerly known as Libra and was in charge of the Calibra digital wallet and served as a PayPal resident. Marcus was also in charge of Facebook messenger.

Back in November, Marcus announced he will leave Meta after spending a few years at the company, and right after, the company disassembled the initaitive which is trying to get it live again with another team under a new name dubbed Aptos.

As previously reported, Marcus has been with the company for seven years and served as a VP of messaging products from 2014 before working on the Diem cryptocurrency that is yet to be released. He took over Novi in 2018 but now he will be replaced by the current VP of product Stephane Kasriel. Facebook changed its name to Meta and it has been working on its own crypto project for years now. Initially known as Libra, it weathered executive departures and broke plenty of partnerships before rebranding to Diem and the Calibra wallet reinvented itself as Novi.