Shalini Nagarajan

Crypto hasn&#8217;t integrated into daily consumer practices&nbsp;— not yet, anyway.



David Marcus, CEO of bitcoin tech infrastructure firm Lightspark, believes it&#8217;s high time for that to evolve.



In a Spaces chat with a16z executives Sriram Krishnan and Eddy Lazzarin on Tuesday, Marcus stressed the importance of crafting solutions in the crypto industry that resonate with real-world challenges and for developers to genuinely comprehend the entire user journey.



“I feel like in crypto in general, I&#8217;ve seen many projects that are basically solving very complex technical challenges and very talented people working on them,” <a href="https://twitter.com/davidmarcus/status/1691585509846606310">he said</a>, adding that many of these solutions lack immediate relevance in the real world.



“For a normal consumer to actually use the thing, it would take a lot of suspending disbelief,” Marcus said.



For those innovating in the field, he thinks it’s crucial to assess whether their solutions truly address real-world challenges.&nbsp;



He urged builders in the space to consider two questions — whether the idea can shift consumer habits, or whether it can achieve broad adoption by unlocking opportunities constrained by current systems.



Marcus is a seasoned entrepreneur who founded mobile payments startup Zong, which caught the attention of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/paypal">PayPal</a> and led to its acquisition. His rapid progression within PayPal set the stage for his getting recruited by Facebook, where he helped grow its user base to hundreds of millions. 



Building on this expertise, Marcus played a pivotal role in the inception of Libra (renamed Diem), a brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg. Diem aimed to democratize finance, enabling users on Facebook&#8217;s suite of apps, including Messenger and WhatsApp, to transact using crypto globally, which could then be converted to local currencies.



But Diem hit a roadblock when lawmakers questioned <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/meta">Meta</a>’s intentions and the extent of the platform’s influence over global social media.



During the Spaces discussion, Marcus also suggested that he is frustrated that financial technology hasn&#8217;t evolved much since the &#8217;60s and &#8217;70s.



While many fintech companies have improved the user interface, they&#8217;re still built on outdated systems.&nbsp;



Instead of just making these old systems look better, Marcus said he’s more interested in the global money system being upgraded to be more open, compatible and cost-effective.



To that end, the Lightspark executive said he’s on a mission.



“I made that decision… that this is a thing I&#8217;m going to actually succeed at or die trying,” he said.&nbsp;



“I’m not going to do anything else for the rest of my life until it&#8217;s done.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Don’t miss the next big story – join our <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">free daily newsletter</a>.



Follow Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">latest news from the courtroom</a>.

Ex-PayPal, Meta exec says it’s time for average Joe crypto

Casey Wagner

As PayPal unveils its stablecoin offering, industry members might recall another time a public company ventured into stablecoins, an effort that eventually proved to be fruitless.&nbsp;



Meta abandoned its stablecoin dreams — first known as libra, then rebranded to diem — after a Congressional probe, European ban and blacklist from the Federal Reserve and US Treasury Department. PayPal says it will be different.



Its experience with payments and years-long investment in crypto initiatives, plus an already-established relationship with regulators, position <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/paypal">PayPal</a> USD for success, the company said in its <a href="https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2023-08-07-PayPal-Launches-U-S-Dollar-Stablecoin">announcement</a> Monday. 



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/paypal-launches-stablecoin">PayPal launches stablecoin tied to the US dollar, issued on Ethereum</a>



PayPal USD is a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/paxos">Paxos</a> Trust Company, which is already licensed as a limited purpose trust company under the New York State Department of Financial Services.&nbsp;



With diem, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/meta">Meta</a> took the opposite approach, only offering to partner with a Fed-regulated bank — Silvergate — after years of trying to launch the token. Diem founders decided to pursue a US-only approach after the project was banned from operating in Europe just six months after it was announced due to regulators’ concerns with risks to monetary sovereignty.&nbsp;



Meta stepped away from diem in January 2022 <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/facebook-led-crypto-project-diem-to-be-sold-off-for-200m-report">when it sold the project to Silvergate Bank</a> after three years of trying to get on regulators’ good side. Silvergate wrote off the investment a year later, months before the bank closed its doors.&nbsp;



PayPal was a brief member of the Diem Association, an industry think-tank of sorts designed to advise on the project, before pulling out after about four months. PayPal left the project “to continue to focus on advancing our existing mission and business priorities,” a spokesperson <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/technology/paypal-facebook-cryptocurrency-libra.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPayPal%20has%20made%20the%20decision,to%20a%20request%20for%20comment.">said</a> at the time.&nbsp;



Aside from a different regulatory attitude toward crypto and a claimed better relationship with the people in charge, PayPal has something Meta never did: It’s an undeniably integral player in the payments-management ecosystem.&nbsp;



PayPal has a <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/895236/australia-market-share-online-payment-platforms/">40% market share</a> of online payment processing, which isn’t going to hurt its case with US regulators, Noelle Acheson, author of Crypto is Macro Now and former head of market insights at Genesis, said.



“[PayPal] is a significant engine of the US payments ecosystem, and it’s hard to imagine regulators scrambling to shut this initiative down as premature when they have so much else going on,” Acheson wrote in Tuesday’s newsletter.&nbsp;



“Even if that happens, it would escalate the building battle between enterprise and politicians, which in theory should always have some tension, but the debates are becoming ideological with the role of regulation at their root.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Don’t miss the next big story – join our <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">free daily newsletter</a>.



Follow Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">latest news from the courtroom</a>.

PayPal USD too big to shut down? Why the stablecoin could be different than Meta’s diem

Ben Strack

A former executive at Gemini and Coinbase now seeks to help a crypto-as-a-service infrastructure platform expand operations into Europe.



Zero Hash has brought aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/araba-e-1369a121/details/experience/">Araba Eshun</a> as its head of compliance in the UK and deputy lead of international compliance.&nbsp;



Founded in 2017, the company has secured money transmitter licenses to operate across 51 US jurisdictions, as well as two BitLicenses from New York’s Department of Financial Services. It has now applied for crypto asset registration with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).&nbsp;



Eshun led crypto exchange Gemini’s UK compliance efforts for the last two years, according to her LinkedIn page. Prior to that, she was a money laundering reporting officer for Coinbase, a senior compliance officer at payments platform Paysafe and chief compliance officer at UK-based crypto exchange Coinfloor.



Brazilian digital banking platform Nubank, which supports a handful of cryptocurrencies, appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmarcus/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Marcus</a> as a member of its board of directors.



Marcus is the CEO and co-founder of Lightspark — a company building infrastructure for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. He most recently spearheaded all payments and crypto efforts at Meta (formerly Facebook), including ill-fated stablecoin Diem. Marcus joined Meta in 2014 to lead Messenger.



The executive spent nearly four years as head of Novi, Meta’s digital wallet designed to help people send and hold Libra digital currencies. The company shut down Novi last year. Marcus was also a president at PayPal from 2012 to 2014.&nbsp;



The appointment comes after Brazil-based Nubank launched a crypto token last week for its 70 million customers in Brazil that rewards users’ engagement through a loyalty program. Nubank revealed it had reached 1 million customers trading cryptocurrencies in the country last July — a month after launching its crypto product.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto firm taps three advisers to spur growth&nbsp;</h2>



Crypto-focused venture capital firm Electric Capital brought aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eladgil/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elad Gil</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/akashdgarg/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Akash Garg</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rettig-8b90a284/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rebecca Rettig</a> as advisers.&nbsp;



Gil co-founded Color Health and Mixer Labs — acquired in 2009 by Twitter, where he subsequently worked as a vice president — and also started Google’s mobile team. He is set to work with Electric Capital founders on fundraising, product strategy and organizational growth.



Garg was most recently chief technology officer at web3 infrastructure company MoonPay after a short stint as vice president of engineering at Block. He also spent nearly three years as a director of engineering at Uber.



Rettig <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-exec-jumps-to-crypto" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recently joined Polygon Labs</a> as its chief policy officer after leading Aave’s legal and policy efforts for nearly two years.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Electric has raised more than $1 billion in capital to invest in early-stage crypto companies and protocols with investment sizes ranging from $1 million to $50 million.&nbsp;



The company said in November <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/electric-capital-stayed-away-from-sbf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">it dodged a bullet when crypto exchange FTX collapsed</a> thanks to “yellow flags” it spotted about the firm during due diligence.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Marketing execs move around</h2>



Web3 investment firm CoinFund hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliemossler/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julie Mossler</a> as its head of marketing and communications.&nbsp;



Founded in 2015, CoinFund has stakes in more than 90 web3 ventures in sectors including artificial intelligence, protocols, gaming and NFTs. A registered investment advisor, the firm specializes in both web3 and crypto-focused investments.&nbsp;



Mossler is set to “reimagine” the firm’s marketing and narrative strategy and support the go-to-market approaches of its portfolio companies.



She was most recently chief marketing officer at NFT ecosystem Metaplex and has also worked as interim CMO at fintech blockchain unicorn Paxos. Prior to her time in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, Mossler held senior brand and growth roles for Waze and Groupon.



Web3 gaming company Immutable appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/devonferreira/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Devon Ferreira</a> as chief marketing officer.



He will be tasked with helping onboard thousands of game developers to Immutable — a company that says nearly $1 billion was invested in games on its platform last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Ferreira was formerly a marketing chief and brand builder for the Avalanche network, working at Ava Labs from July 2021 to December 2022. He was a director of marketing and strategy at The Walt Disney Company before moving to apparel company Oakley as its global head of digital.



&nbsp;Immutable also promoted senior vice president <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsuen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jason Suen</a> to chief commercial officer.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Don’t miss the next big story – join our <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">free daily newsletter</a>.



Follow Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">latest news from the courtroom</a>.

Crypto Hiring: Former Meta Crypto Chief Snagged By NuBank

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_61f20829d7753" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Diem Association is reportedly selling off its crypto infrastructure for a sum of $200M</li>
 <li>A holding company for crypto-focused bank Silvergate has picked up the ticket</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Facebook&#8217;s brief foray into crypto is reportedly coming to a close.



According to a report by the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-cryptocurrency-venture-to-wind-down-sell-assets-11643248799" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a> on Wednesday, the Facebook-led Diem Association&#8217;s blockchain and crypto infrastructure is being sold off to a Californian bank for around $200 million. 



Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms Inc., did not immediately respond to Blockworks&#8217; request for comment.



The bank, Silvergate Capital Corp., previously reached a deal with Diem to issue the association&#8217;s stablecoin, but those efforts were blocked by the Federal Reserve, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-25/zuckerberg-s-stablecoin-ambitions-unravel-with-diem-sale-talks?sref=ctSjKj2N" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to Bloomberg</a> reporting. 



Silvergate Capital is a holding company for its crypto-focused bank which provides financial infrastructure and services to digital asset participants.



The move is viewed as a means to return capital to its investor members. Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. owns around a third of the association, according to the reports. The other two-thirds belong to a consortium of the association&#8217;s members.



From the outset, the Diem project formerly known as Libra was derided and railed against over its plans to introduce a stablecoin — a crypto asset generally pegged to a commodity or fiat currency — to billions of users worldwide.



Meta unveiled the ambitious project back in June 2019, much to the chagrin of US regulators and politicians. The association was formed alongside payments giants PayPal, Stripe and Visa and also included a long list of some of the world&#8217;s largest companies.



Concerns were raised in Washington a month later when Facebook&#8217;s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, had to explain to congress how the initiative wouldn&#8217;t undermine global finance. Following funding cuts to the project, as well as the Meta-owned Novi crypto wallet and regulatory pressure, development stalled.



Meanwhile, David Marcus, who oversaw Libra from the beginning as well as the development of Novi, quit Facebook in December citing a need to pursue his own personal projects.


[stock_market_widget type=&#8221;accordion&#8221; template=&#8221;chart&#8221; color=&#8221;#5679FF&#8221; assets=&#8221;FB&#8221; start_expanded=&#8221;false&#8221; display_currency_symbol=&#8221;true&#8221; api=&#8221;yf&#8221; chart_range=&#8221;1mo&#8221; chart_interval=&#8221;1d&#8221;]



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Don’t miss the next big story – join our <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">free daily newsletter</a>.



Follow Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">latest news from the courtroom</a>.

Facebook-led Crypto Project Diem to Be Sold Off for $200M: Report

Luke Conway

<div id="highlights-block_61f169ffc3148" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Meta’s Diem Association, formerly known as Libra, has been plagued by regulatory and social backlash</li>
 <li>The association n is seeking to sell assets to pay back investors, sources familiar with the matter reportedly say </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Meta’s (formerly Facebook) “Diem” stablecoin cryptocurrency project seems to be crumbling after years of social and regulatory pressures, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-25/zuckerberg-s-stablecoin-ambitions-unravel-with-diem-sale-talks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. The project, formerly known as Libra, is reportedly seeking to sell its assets in order to return capital to investors and association members. 


[stock_market_widget type=&#8221;accordion&#8221; template=&#8221;chart&#8221; color=&#8221;#5679FF&#8221; assets=&#8221;FB&#8221; start_expanded=&#8221;false&#8221; display_currency_symbol=&#8221;true&#8221; api=&#8221;yf&#8221; chart_range=&#8221;1mo&#8221; chart_interval=&#8221;1d&#8221;]



Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency was slated to launch in 2019, but backlash from regulators forced the association to hold off until it received appropriate <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Marcus%20Testimony%207-16-19.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">approvals</a>. In October 2019, several companies, including PayPal, eBay, Mastercard and Stripe, left the Libra Association, increasing doubt that the project would ever work. 



In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/07/paypal-pulls-out-facebook-libra-cryptocurrency#:~:text=It%20said%20in%20a%20statement,financial%20services%20for%20underserved%20populations." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> from 2019, PayPal noted why it was leaving the project:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;PayPal has made the decision to forgo further participation in the Libra association at this time and to continue to focus on advancing our existing mission and business priorities as we strive to democratize access to financial services for underserved populations.&#8221;</blockquote>



Since then, PayPal has made its own <a href="https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2020-10-21-PayPal-Launches-New-Service-Enabling-Users-to-Buy-Hold-and-Sell-Cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">entry</a> into the cryptocurrency space, letting its users buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency on its platform. 



Concern over the Diem project stemmed from both Facebook’s history with data and also the fact that Libra would be a permissioned and private system that could potentially undermine existing monetary systems should it become popular. 



After so much backlash from regulators, the Libra Association <a href="https://www.diem.com/en-us/updates/diem-association/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">changed</a> its name to the Diem Association in 2020, just as Facebook would later change its name to Meta after becoming synonymous with unethical data practices.



The new version of Diem would also depart from its prior concept of a stablecoin backed by the International Monetary Fund&#8217;s SDR, a basket of top currencies including USD, EUR, CNY, JPY and GBP, and instead use a USD-only backed stablecoin issued by a major bank. But Diem couldn&#8217;t seem to shake the regulatory and social pressures.



To add more uncertainty to the project, Diem&#8217;s head David Marcus, announced his departure from Meta and Diem through a series of Tweets in November of last year. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Personal news: after a fulfilling seven years at Meta, I’ve made the difficult decision to step down and leave the company at the end of this year. (1/7)&mdash; David Marcus &#8211; dmarcus.eth (@davidmarcus) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidmarcus/status/1465740041339092994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Sources say that it is unclear whether or not Diem will find a buyer for its assets, a third of which is owned by Meta.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Don’t miss the next big story – join our <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">free daily newsletter</a>.



Follow Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sbf-trial">latest news from the courtroom</a>.