Ex-PayPal president unveils bullish Bitcoin target

April 30, 2026

David Marcus worked as the president at fintech giant PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) in the early 2010s before moving to Facebook as the vice president of messaging products in 2014.

During his tenure at Facebook, he was the co-creator of Diem, a failed cryptocurrency project initiated by the social media company.

For a brief period, he also served on the board of directors of the largest U.S. crypto trading exchange, Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN).

Related: Meta unveils a surprising new way to pay creators in stablecoins

In May 2022, he co-founded a company called Lightspark, a Bitcoin (BTC)-focused company, where he also serves as the CEO.

Marcus’ journey demonstrates how the crypto industry has captured the tech world’s attention. An early proponent of cryptocurrency, he appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” show on Apr. 29 and unveiled a bullish target on Bitcoin.

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Marcus commented on the changing dynamics of Bitcoin holdings.

While long-term holders once held the forte, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) now expose Bitcoin to different kinds of trading strategies, he underlined. It has exposed Bitcoin flows to more volatility, he added.

He also talked about Jack Dorsey’s Block (NYSE: XYZ) having apps like Square and Cash App which let customers and merchants settle payments in dollars using the Lightning network.

“This is also my vision for Bitcoin, which is, use a network that no one can mess around with,” he said. “And use the technology to make money move globally in a much more effective way for billions of people.”

Regarding Bitcoin’s price, Marcus said it ebbs and flows but in the long run, it always trends in the same direction.

“I’m still very bullish long term.”

He said his guess is as good as anybody else’s as far as Bitcoin’s 6-12 month price prediction but BTC should be worth $1 million or more in the “very long term.” Though he shared the forecast, he refused to share a timeline for the target.

Marcus also talked about the Grid Global Accounts, a new enterprise banking product Lightspark is launching that allows platforms to offer branded dollar accounts, stablecoin conversion, Visa debit cards and instant foreign-exchange services across 65 countries.

Related: Coinbase CEO proposes surprising fix to $60B remittance fees

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Apr 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.