Lightspark CEO David Marcus used Tuesday morning’s session at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference to announce Grid Global Accounts, a product he described as a dollar account that can be used anywhere, backed by a new partnership with Visa that expands spending access to many countries around the world.
Marcus began by framing the problem on a large scale. Approximately 400 billion emails move across the internet every day, and consumers rely on a handful of platforms, such as Gmail, to manage that volume. According to Marcus, global payment systems handle 10 billion transactions a day, but lack an equivalent universal layer.
No form of payment works frictionlessly everywhere, Marcus said, and every dollar a company sends across borders incurs delays, exchange costs and fees, leaving recipients waiting for money they’ve already earned.
He identified several structural changes that would make things different now. Marcus pointed to how regulations have changed, with governments in major markets moving from vague guidelines to concrete frameworks on digital assets, stablecoins and cross-border payments.
He also mentioned how wallets have changed as consumers now hold their digital identities and payment credentials in software that allows them to connect to compliant networks. Lightspark built Spark on top of Bitcoin, using the network as a neutral global payments layer that can move value between any two compliant endpoints.
Lightspark launches Grid Global Accounts
Marcus also introduced Grid Global Accounts, which sit on top of Lightspark Grid, the company’s real-time global funds transfer platform. Marcus said these accounts use a single wallet address that supports both dollars and Bitcoin, so one account can go through multiple payment rails, depending on what a particular transaction requires.
In other words, it’s an API platform that enables your app to become a full-fledged global financial hub without the need for a banking license, offering branded USD accounts backed by stablecoins, Visa debit cards, payments to over 65 countries and 14,000 banks, instant Bitcoin conversion, and AI-driven account management. Lightspark, on the other hand, builds on its Lightning Network integration and recent SoFi money transfer partnership to manage KYC, compliance, fraud, and licensing.
Marcus showed off the app’s interface during the session, demonstrating that the experience feels like a simple consumer wallet, even though underneath the surface it routes payments via Bitcoin, stablecoins, and fiat currencies.
The partnership with Visa gives Grid Global account holders direct access to Visa’s merchant network across many countries, so those who receive funds into their accounts can spend them almost anywhere or move balances on-chain for self-custody.
Marcus also pointed to artificial intelligence as the next layer of the product. He said the app uses a conversational AI interface to process payments in natural language, allowing an AI agent to hold and spend money on your behalf.
This article, Lightspark launches Grid Global Account to target fragmented global payment systems, originally appeared in Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Micah Zimmerman.
