Lightspark and the Lightning Network

The unique challenges of building a centralized company over a decentralized network

Last Wednesday I visited Lightspark in their headquarters in Los Angeles. Lightspark is probably one of the better-funded Bitcoin companies, having recently raised $170+ million in the last funding round. They are aiming to bring the Lightning Network to the corporate world. The leadership team came from Facebook, where they tried to launch the Diem digital currency, but quickly realized that open-source networks are better for the protocol layer. So, David Marcus, Kevin Hurley, and others spun out Lightspark, which builds on the application layer above the Lightning Network.