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LIGHTSPARK Building an open economy for everyone
LIGHTSPARK
Company Overview.
Description.
Lightspark is a global Bitcoin payments infrastructure company founded in 2022 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded by David Marcus, a veteran fintech executive who previously served as President of PayPal and led crypto initiatives at Meta (formerly Facebook). Lightspark's mission is to modernize cross-border payments by leveraging Bitcoin's Lightning Network to enable instant, low-cost money transfers globally.
The company offers three core product lines: Grid (a unified API for sending, receiving, and settling fiat, stablecoins, and Bitcoin globally), Node (enterprise-grade Lightning node management handling keys, liquidity, and routing), and Spark (a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution for near-zero cost transactions). Through its Universal Money Address (UMA) protocol, Lightspark enables human-readable payment addresses that function like "email for money."
In October 2025, Lightspark acquired Striga, a European crypto infrastructure company, to expand into card issuing, compliance solutions, and fiat-crypto ramps. This acquisition positioned Lightspark as a full-stack payments infrastructure provider with Visa card capabilities and banking licenses across multiple jurisdictions.
Lightspark operates in 180+ countries and serves major clients including Coinbase, Revolut, SoFi, Bitso, Bakkt, and Xapo Bank. The company has raised $175 million in Series A funding from top-tier investors including a16z, Paradigm, Thrive, Coatue, and Ribbit. The company maintains regulatory licenses in Estonia (VASP) and holds money transmitter licenses in over 20 US states. Lightspark completed SOC 2 Type 1 compliance certification in June 2024 and is actively working on MiCA compliance for European market entry.
Key Infrastructure.
Provides real-time settlement with always-on availability and minimal transaction fees across all supported currencies and regions.
Supports virtual and physical cards with real-time spending controls, dynamic limits, and merchant category restrictions.
Enables businesses to operate production Lightning nodes without dedicated infrastructure expertise.
Provides instant liquidity with competitive exchange rates and compliant ID verification for user onboarding.
Maintains full connection to Bitcoin's security model while providing enhanced throughput and privacy features.
Functions like email for money, senders can pay anyone globally using just a simple identifier without knowing wallet addresses.
Additional Features.
General Questions.
Lightspark provides payment infrastructure for instant, low-cost transfers using the Bitcoin Lightning Network and stablecoins, enabling global fiat-to-crypto integration.
Exchanges, digital banks, wallets, fintech companies, and traditional banks.
They operate globally through acquired entities (Striga) and partnerships with licensed banks like Cross River Bank.
Bitcoin, Lightning Network, USDC, USDT.
