Have you caught the latest episode of the Chain Reaction podcast? The show takes a closer look at the most fascinating stories, backgrounds, and current events with some of the biggest names in the crypto industry. In the most recent episode, host Jacquelyn sat down for an interview with Jack Mallers, the CEO and founder of Strike. As a bitcoin-based payment network and financial app, Strike is working to expand cross-border payments and remittance markets, making transactions faster and more accessible than ever before.
As reported by TechCrunch, Mallers’ company recently raised $80 million in a Series B round to grow into that space, and today it counts major companies like Visa, Clover, and Fiserv among its partners. According to Mallers, “I think it’s about meeting consumers where they are and solving a problem for them.”
During the podcast, Mallers shared his backstory, including how he got into the Bitcoin scene as a young adult, and how he sees the Lightning Network revolutionizing payments. He also discussed El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin, creating new infrastructure to make Bitcoin more accessible, and the future of the Strike and Bitcoin ecosystems.
Mallers is also the CEO of Zap, a bitcoin investment, and payments company that transacts on the Lightning Network, which is a second layer on Bitcoin’s blockchain that allows for off-chain transactions between parties. Mallers explained, “We’re a business involved with Bitcoin but we don’t care about its price. We use Bitcoin and the Lightning Network for payments, so we’re actually using Bitcoin, the instrument, to move value around the world. But our customers spend and receive dollars, or spend and receive euros, or spend and receive stablecoins.”
Mallers believes that Lightning will serve as the single value transfer protocol for the earth. He thinks that as we evolve in the early innings of this journey, the lowest-hanging fruit is: how do you get fiscal value across planet earth? That’s why he believes the focus needs to be there.
The conversation was heavily focused on Bitcoin, but it provided insight into Mallers’ vision for the future of payments and the role that Bitcoin and Lightning Network will play in shaping it. As Mallers explained, the business isn’t reliant on the price of Bitcoin but is “using it as a technological innovation in the world of payments.” He believes that the Lightning Network has the potential to be better than the payment networks that exist today, and Strike is working to make Bitcoin more accessible and expand its reach.
The Lightning Network’s global potential is vast, and Mallers sees it as the future of cross-border payments. The Lightning Network allows for almost instant transactions at low fees, making it ideal for small transactions, including micropayments. Mallers believes that this technology has the potential to change the world, and Strike is working hard to make it more accessible.
El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin was also discussed during the podcast. Mallers sees this as a significant step forward for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole. He believes that this move will encourage other countries to follow suit and adopt cryptocurrencies as legal tender.
Creating the new infrastructure to make Bitcoin more accessible is a top priority for Mallers and Strike. He believes that the key to expanding Bitcoin’s reach is to make it easier for people to use. The strike is working to make it possible for anyone to send and receive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with ease, regardless of their technical knowledge.
In terms of the future of the Strike and Bitcoin ecosystems, Mallers believes that Bitcoin will continue to be a valuable asset for storing wealth, but he sees Lightning as the future of payments. He believes that more and more people will begin to realize the benefits of Lightning Network, and Strike is working hard to make this technology more accessible.