Stark: VCs laughed at Lightning Labs before the 2017 crypto shift
Elizabeth Stark · An Intro to Crypto: Decentralization, the Big Picture · Jul 15, 2018 · at 11:53
Elizabeth Stark, CEO and co-founder of Lightning Labs, reflects on early venture capital skepticism toward Bitcoin startups before widespread adoption in 2017–2018.
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“So recently I was quoted as saying we're back in a Bitcoin, not blockchain world because so back when I was fundraising for my company, Lightning Labs nobody cared about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. People would laugh us away. They wouldn't take meetings with us. Things have changed dramatically in the last really just 12 months.”
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More from Elizabeth Stark
Stark: Early ICO windfalls create perverse incentives that impede shipping products
“There can be perverse incentives because now there's so much money and they're not actually able to ship a product.”
Stark: Some ICOs raised tens of millions before shipping any product
“But there's a world in which, okay, you know, there have been ICOs where on day one the folks involved made say tens of millions or more of dollars and they hadn't even shipped a product.”
Stark: Lightning Labs will never launch an ICO
“Well, I, I've said publicly, there's never going to be a lightning ICO.”
Stark: Base-layer token incentives are essential to maintain network decentralization
“Actually when you have the incentive mechanism that is tied to this Base layer currency or token, if you will, that actually maintains the decentralization of the network.”
Stark: Bitcoin is leaderless because Satoshi Nakamoto departed early
“Bitcoin is not ruled by a benevolent dictator. So Satoshi, the creator of Bitcoin actually left the community in very early and has not been seen since. One thing that I think is really fascinating is that there is no leader.”
Stark: Economic incentives will keep growing crypto networks secure
“The incentive structure is built such that there are so many people that are incentivized to not have the network be attacked, that we have not seen that happen as of yet, and I believe as these communities and these currencies grow we'll see even more of that…”