David Marcus: U.S. Banks Are Quietly Preparing to Enter the Bitcoin Network

Bitcoin's integration into traditional finance is accelerating, and according to Lightspark CEO David Marcus, the next major leap could come from within Wall Street.

Speaking after the Bitcoin 2025 Conference on CNBC, Marcus revealed that several top U.S. banks are gearing up to join the Bitcoin network—a move he believes will mark a turning point for institutional crypto adoption.

Marcus, who previously served as PayPal’s president, said Lightspark’s infrastructure is already powering Bitcoin transactions at digital banks like Latin America’s Nubank and Europe’s Revolut. These platforms offer instant currency conversion across 70 countries, and he expects U.S. financial institutions to deploy similar capabilities soon.

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He stressed that Bitcoin is finally delivering on its long-touted “digital gold” vision, with companies increasingly shifting reserves into BTC. Marcus pointed to GameStop’s recent Bitcoin purchase as evidence of a growing corporate trend initiated by pioneers like MicroStrategy.

This wave of institutional interest, he said, is helping decentralize risk and establish Bitcoin as a core asset in modern finance. He added that the public perception of crypto has changed dramatically—what was once experimental is now being viewed as a mainstream investment class.

Touching on political adoption, Marcus defended the idea that public figures and their families could invest in crypto, just as they do in stocks or bonds. He called for sensible regulation rooted in ethics rather than exclusion, noting that digital assets are now simply part of the financial landscape.