Strike is a financial technology company that uses the Bitcoin Lightning Network to power instant, low-cost payments and remittances. Founded by Jack Mallers, Strike has become one of the most prominent Lightning Network applications and played a direct role in El Salvador's historic adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender.
History and Founding
Strike was founded by Jack Mallers, who had previously built the Zap wallet, an early Lightning Network interface. Strike launched publicly in 2020 with a model that abstracts the technical complexity of Bitcoin and Lightning into a consumer-friendly payment application. Users in the United States could send and receive money instantly using the Lightning Network, with Strike handling the underlying Bitcoin exposure.
The company raised significant venture funding, including an $80 million Series B round in 2022, to expand its product offering and geographic reach.
El Salvador and Bitcoin Adoption
Strike's most consequential moment came in June 2021, when Jack Mallers took the stage at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami and announced that El Salvador would become the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Mallers had been working with the Bukele administration and presented the announcement live on stage in an emotional speech.
Strike played a direct technical role in El Salvador's Bitcoin law implementation. The company integrated with the government's Chivo wallet infrastructure and worked to make Lightning Network payments accessible to Salvadoran citizens. The remittance use case was central to the pitch: Salvadorans living abroad send billions of dollars home annually, with traditional remittance services extracting significant fees. Strike's Lightning-based approach could dramatically reduce those costs.
Products and Services
Strike's core product enables users to send money globally using the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The company's business model often involves converting between dollars and bitcoin at the point of transaction, meaning users can engage with Lightning's speed and low fees without necessarily holding bitcoin as a store of value.
Strike launched a "Send Globally" feature that enables users in the United States to send dollars internationally, with recipients receiving local currency -- using Lightning Network settlements to move value faster and cheaper than traditional wire transfers or remittance services.
The company also developed partnerships with major retailers and point-of-sale providers to enable Bitcoin and Lightning payments at physical and online merchants, and offers a service for converting paychecks into bitcoin.
Significance
Strike represents a practical demonstration of the Lightning Network's potential for real-world payment applications. By focusing on user experience and regulatory compliance rather than ideological positioning, the company has brought Lightning-based payments to a mainstream audience. The El Salvador partnership remains the most high-profile deployment of Lightning Network technology at a national scale, and Strike's role in that event cemented Jack Mallers' position as one of the most visible advocates for Bitcoin as a payment network.
External Links
References
- Jack Mallers -- founder and CEO
- Lightning Network -- the technology powering Strike
- Lightning Labs -- company behind LND, the Lightning implementation Strike utilizes
- Elizabeth Stark -- Lightning Labs CEO whose infrastructure enables Strike
- Adopting Bitcoin -- El Salvador conference connected to Strike's work
- BTCPay Server -- alternative open-source merchant payment infrastructure
- Mastering the Lightning Network -- technical guide to the protocol Strike builds on