Strike, the payments company focused on bitcoin, is set to extend the reach of its app to over 65 countries, surpassing its current presence limited to the United States and El Salvador, planning to venture into untapped markets across Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Strike CEO Jack Mallers revealed the announcement on Friday, at the Bitcoin 2023 conference held in Miami Beach, Florida.
By leveraging bitcoin and Lightning, the Strike app delivers global payment solutions and facilitates cross-border money transfers.
Amidst the current regulatory uncertainties faced by the U.S. digital assets industry and ongoing lawsuits by the Securities and Exchange Commission against firms for providing unregistered securities, Mallers expressed that this serves as a validation of Strike’s strong commitment to its bitcoin-centric approach.
This is a reference to SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s repeatedly expressed perspective that bitcoin should be classified as a commodity rather than a security.
Mallers highlighted that Strike’s expansion into international markets was partially influenced by the company’s decision to relocate its global headquarters to El Salvador.
Earlier this year, El Salvador enacted a digital assets law, providing a regulatory framework for digital assets. Mallers noted that Strike was among the first to obtain a license under the new regulatory guideline, alongside Bitfinex.
It is worth mentioning that Mallers has previous connections to El Salvador and its president, Nayib Bukele. In 2021, Bukele declared bitcoin as legal tender in the country, and Mallers had the privilege of introducing President Bukele during the Bitcoin Miami conference, where the president made the historic announcement via video.
According to Strike, this expansion will broaden its total addressable market, encompassing nearly 3 billion individuals.
Manuela Rios, the Vice President of product at Strike, stated that their ultimate objective is to cater to the entire global population of 7 to 8 billion people, regardless of their country of residence.
Rios emphasized that the newly designed user interface of the app will offer a smooth onboarding process, a feature that the company has been diligently refining over the years. She explained that while apps in the United States boast exceptional design standards, the same cannot be said for apps downloaded abroad, which often fall short in terms of aesthetics and user experience.
