Yo! I’m back and thrilled to announce Strike’s first-ever release of on and off-ramps outside of the United States!

At Strike, our mission is Better Money. To achieve better money for all, we use Bitcoin: open, global, public digital infrastructure for money. In order to better serve our mission to the world, we know that we need to continue to expand our services to as many markets as possible with as many payment rails as possible, making Bitcoin, Lightning, and Strike more accessible.

Since Strike was founded, a key priority of the business has been improving the global accessibility of Bitcoin. We’ve always envisioned a financial future that’s fairer and freer for everyone. In order to make this a reality, Bitcoin and Lightning have to reach all 8 billion people on the planet. Today marks a pivotal moment in this journey.

Today, we continue to march forward on our Global Quest. We’re rolling out a highly anticipated feature that Bitcoiners worldwide have requested for years. Now, Strike users around the globe can experience the ease of buying bitcoin directly through our platform. This is more than just an update; it’s a milestone in our quest to democratize financial freedom globally.

Today we’re announcing:

• We’ve begun rolling out the ability for Strike users globally to buy bitcoin with their debit card! We’re now officially live in the 36 countries below and are actively rolling out to the 65+ countries where the Strike app is available today (iOS is rolled to 100% and Android is actively rolling out to 100% through the week)

• Send Globally (fiat-over-lightning) rails are now available for Strike users globally, allowing customers in supported countries to cash out their fiat, USDT, or bitcoin to their local currencies (even if they don’t have a debit card). Send Globally cash-outs are now supported in 12 countries, including the Philippines, Mexico, Vietnam, Ghana, and Kenya, with more to come
• We have partnered with Bitrefill! Strike users can now use their fiat, USDT, or bitcoin balance to purchase everyday necessities over the Lightning Network
• We want Strike to be one of the best Bitcoin and Lightning wallets in the world. We have added support for Lightning Address, 0-value invoices, on-chain payment tiers, and global P2P payments in fiat, USDT, or bitcoin between Strike users

Story

Bitcoin is transforming the world’s financial landscape globally. What the internet did for communications, Bitcoin does for money. It is open, public, digital monetary infrastructure for the world. Its technological innovation, global interoperability, resilience, and monetary policy enforce its appeal. As a monetary asset, Bitcoin has established itself as the undisputed digital reserve leader, re-instilling property rights worldwide. With the Lightning Network, this digital monetary infrastructure now enables instant, low-cost, Internet-native payments at a global scale.

Bitcoin’s potential is nothing short of remarkable. It transcends borders, reaching individuals previously considered unreachable, and solves some of the biggest problems the world faces today.

“The worst thing in the world: the waste of human potential”

Over a decade ago, when I first started working on Bitcoin, I believed that Mt. Gox had successfully paved the way for global Bitcoin adoption. When Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014, I looked to Coinbase as a potential leader in scaling Bitcoin and building Lightning interoperability. And when Coinbase began endorsing hard-forks and supporting shitcoins in 2017, Sam Bankman-Fried was introduced as a prodigious figure destined to leverage the greatest technological advancement money has ever seen to empower billions globally towards a bright new future.

After his arrest and trial in 2023, the unfortunate reality is the world is yet to have a global, moral, ethical, principled, passionate, laser(eyed)-focused Bitcoin company.

At Strike, helping Bitcoin realize its global potential was always core to our existence. I wasn’t satisfied with how anyone was doing Bitcoin globally, so I founded Strike and set out to do it better. The vision was a beautiful Bitcoin Money App that’s designed to be accessible, functional, secure, and available to billions of people all over the world. I dreamed of an open value-transfer-protocol that would connect us all, relieving us of expensive middlemen and friction-filled global commerce. A service focused on helping customers find value in all Bitcoin has to offer, not speculate on all that “crypto” is currently selling.

Shortly after Strike was founded, we flew down to El Salvador to embark on this exact mission and purpose. The rest is history. We became part of a country finding hope, freedom, equality, and a future in Bitcoin, marking the first major milestone in becoming a global bitcoin money app for the world. In 2021, Strike’s El Salvador entity became one of the first companies to receive a bitcoin services provider license in El Salvador. A major milestone for our mission and vision.

In addition to putting in the regulatory work to be able to operate on a global scale, we’ve also invested in owning our infrastructure, allowing us to build our own tools and our own experience specifically for the Bitcoin future we want to see.

We believe that with our software, infrastructure, licenses, and continuously expanding suite of services, we’re uniquely positioned to serve the needs of billions of people who want access to Bitcoin as Bitcoin continues to demonetize the world.

Today is an incredible day. The start of a new exciting era for Strike. The world needs better access to all that Bitcoin has to offer. We won’t stop until this vision has reached its potential.

Global On-Ramps

Strike Global users can now easily purchase bitcoin using their debit card!

Here is a user stacking sats in El Salvador:

Here is a user in the Philippines stacking sats:

It’s really that easy!

As of today, we’re live in the 36 countries below and are actively rolling out to the 65+ countries where Strike is available (iOS is rolled to 100% and Android is actively rolling out to 100% through the week).

Let’s go!!!

For the sake of transparency, I wanted to discuss our pricing.

Unfortunately, it’s expensive for businesses like Strike to build and operate global infrastructure. Global on-ramps are challenging, as we know the world of money before bitcoin is closed, fragmented, and riddled with fees and intermediaries. Card ramps are very valuable, very convenient, and made sense for us to launch first given the fact that everyone in the world with a card can use them.

To start, for non-U.S. users, deposits will incur a 3.9% fee.

I know, a far cry from the cost to buy bitcoin in the U.S. with Strike. We want to offer it cheaper, and we will find a way. We may be able to lower this based on transaction volume and other variables. However, even at this price point, our pricing is still lower than the majority of our competitors and we believe that we’re able to deliver a better product and Bitcoin experience overall for our users.

Lastly, this is our first on-ramp to buy bitcoin outside the U.S., but most certainly will not be our last. We plan on offering alternative payment methods next (bank deposits, cash points, etc.). We are coming for it all and we won’t stop until we get there.

Send Money And Cash Out Globally

Around a year ago, we launched Send Globally.

Send Globally enables fast, secure, low-cost money transfers leveraging the Lightning Network as an open and global payment rail under the hood.

Send Globally was initially built to take our U.S. customers’ dollars, convert those dollars into bitcoin, which was then sent via the Lightning Network to their recipient’s country and converted from bitcoin into local currency and sent directly to the recipient’s bank or mobile money account.

Today, Strike supports this product in 12 markets, including the Philippines, Mexico, Vietnam, Ghana, and Kenya.

When expanding Strike globally to all of these new markets, we thought to ourselves:

“Wait a second, this global payments infrastructure on Lightning is valuable to everyone, not just those in the U.S. looking to make cross-border payments!”

Right? Interoperating different currencies and payment networks all over the world is an amazing feature for everyone.

So, we repurposed this infrastructure for our users outside of the U.S., and now Strike users outside the U.S. can use this technology to:

• Cash out their bitcoin or USDT balance to local currency
• Send money across borders
• Use Strike to buy goods and services in their local markets

Here is a user in Mexico cashing out to MXN using our Send Globally Lightning rails:

We believe that this experience is incredibly impactful, particularly for our users in emerging markets with weaker currencies who prefer to hold their money in USDT/bitcoin but have to cash out or send money to their friends and family in their local currency when necessary.

Shop with Lightning

We’ve partnered with Bitrefill to enable users globally to make real-world purchases via the Lightning Network within Strike!

All Strike users can now easily use their cash balance (USD for U.S. users, USDT for global users), or bitcoin over the Lightning Network to shop at their favorite stores, subscribe to streaming services, and make all sorts of online purchases directly from the Strike app.

We’re excited to offer this feature as an additional off-ramp for users globally. Whether you’re holding USD, USDT, or bitcoin, you can now easily use those funds for real-world purchases and essential everyday items.

Strike Wallet Updates

We want Strike to be one of the best Bitcoin and Lightning wallets in the world and have made significant upgrades to enhance the user experience. We have added support for Lightning Address, zero-value invoices, on-chain payment tiers, and global P2P payments in fiat, USDT, and bitcoin between Strike users. Let’s dive into each of the features.

Lightning Address

Did you know all Strike users, no matter where you are, have a Lightning Address?

It’s true! All Strike users have an address that allows them to receive payments from all over the world. In fact, Strike has some Lightning Address features I’m not sure anyone else has.

Your Strike Lightning Address is simple and clean. It’s simply your username with @strike.me attached to the end:

YOUR_USERNAME@strike.me

Reads like an email address but it receives global payments instead of text. If you head over to your profile, you can view and share your Strike Lightning Address:

Lastly, on Strike, you can select whether you receive incoming payments in cash or bitcoin. Some users want payments in fiat or stablecoins for a classic remittance experience and some users want to only be stacking sats at every opportunity.

If you head over to your Profile, you’ll find a Bitcoin section on your settings where you can select which currency you receive your payments in!

Lastly, we’ve begun rolling out the functionality for Strike users to send to a Lightning Address, which will be available to all users globally over the next few weeks!

It works similarly and is equally as cool. When you pay a Lightning Address on Strike you can send cash or bitcoin. Pretty neat! If you’re looking to send fiat currency globally, go for it. If you’re looking to sling sats around the world-wide-web, be our guest.

A truly dynamic experience that leverages an open, global, fast, and cheap payment protocol native to the internet ✨

Zero-Value Invoices

We recently launched support to both send and receive payments using zero-value Lightning invoices.

Now, you can pay zero-value Lightning invoices and send any amount from your cash or bitcoin balance to other wallets.

Here I send cash from my bank account over to Cash App using zero-value invoices. The UX keeps getting better and better!

You can also issue zero-value Lightning invoices and receive any amount of bitcoin or cash from other wallets. When receiving cash, Strike automatically converts bitcoin to cash upon receipt.

Global Strike P2P

Strike users can pay other Strike users around the world instantly and in any supported currency, including bitcoin. This feature becomes increasingly exciting as we keep expanding globally, adding more on and off ramps, and enhancing our wallet features.

Imagine a guy named Michael. Michael was born in Ghana and has since immigrated to the U.S. to work at a software startup. Every month Michael sends money back home to his mom in Ghana.

Using Strike to send money home is great for Michael because it’s faster, cheaper, and more reliable than many alternatives. More money makes it home. However, his mom has a problem with her local currency, the Ghanaian cedi (GHS). Her currency is being rapidly devalued and it’s unclear where she can find safety. Recently, many people in her country have turned to USDT and bitcoin as a solution to storing their value.

With Strike’s global P2P transfers, Michael can now send money home to his mom’s Strike account instantly and his mom can receive the money:

• As bitcoin in her Strike wallet
• As USDT in her Strike wallet
• As GHS in her mobile money account

That’s incredible! His mom can now receive GHS or receive her money in bitcoin and USDT.

Let’s assume his mom elects to receive the initial payment in USDT which is becoming increasingly popular in Ghana. Now, with Strike, she has the following options:

• Invest some of the money into bitcoin
• Cash out her USDT into her Ghanaian mobile money account over our Lightning rails as she needs to spend it
• Use Strike’s in-app shopping via Bitrefill to spend her USDT over Lightning for real goods and services

Faster, cheaper, global payment connectivity for the world, all on open public digital infrastructure: Bitcoin. On top of that, his mom now has access to bitcoin, a dollar stablecoin (USDT), online shopping (Bitrefill), and her local currency (card on-ramps and Lightning-To-Fiat cashouts).

So exciting, and this is only the beginning. Imagine as we continue adding more markets, more currencies, and more ramps!

On-Chain Bitcoin Wallet

A lesser-known part of Strike is our on-chain Bitcoin wallet. In order for Strike to become one of the best wallets in the world, we need to be ready for the Bitcoin blockchain to be used at scale. We’ve been working hard on listening to what customers want from our on-chain wallet and ensuring it’s ready for the bull run.

Public service announcement: Strike offers free bitcoin withdrawals using our own infrastructure!

Yes, it’s true, and as bitcoin scales + we enter a new bull market, it’s very important to know.

When sending an on-chain payment, Strike allows you to select the delivery time of the payment:

• Priority — Targeting the next block, largest fees
• Standard — Targeting confirmation in about an hour, lower fees than priority
• Flexible — Targeting confirmation in around 24 hours, free of charge!

This is huge and allows our users to navigate the mempool to their liking. If you’re simply stacking sats and withdrawing to cold storage, feel free to select flexible and save your precious bitcoin. As of writing, it is around $20 to get an on-chain payment into the next block!

Thanks

Finally! I’m fired up. Strike has to be global, so we will be. This is an amazing milestone. I’m so proud of the Strike team and so thankful to all of our customers and the Bitcoin community that has helped us get to this point.

If you take a step back and take a look at what we’ve been shipping, Strike now has a mighty powerful Bitcoin offering after our last few announcements:

All Users

• Bitcoin and Lightning wallet infrastructure
• Card deposits
• Payments infrastructure
  • Global P2P
  • Lightning Address
  • 0-value invoices
  • Fiat/USDT over Lightning
• Send Globally — Cross-currency payments over Lightning

U.S. Users

• USD
• Bank deposits
• Card deposits
• Wire transfers with no limits
• Direct deposits with no limits

Non-U.S. Users

• USDT
• Card deposits

The world needs a global Bitcoin company. We’re trying to make it happen, but appreciate that this is only a milestone.

There are still markets we need to enter, payment methods we need to enable, and currencies we need to support. The vision at the end of it all is so beautiful and so clear, but the work between now and then should not be understated. Please continue giving us feedback, asking questions, and holding us accountable to our mission. Not only is this not the end, it’s hardly the beginning. There is so much left for us to achieve together.

I may have one more banger of a global announcement before the year is over. Let’s see how the next month goes.

Thanks again for all of the continued support. To our customers, thank you for using Strike when you do Bitcoin. We care deeply about you, and we care deeply about delivering you a Better Money experience all over the world.

Much love. Talk soon.

Jack