Strike Partners With Shopify; Merchants to Accept Bitcoin

On Thursday, Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced a slew of high-powered partnerships at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, including a collaboration with Shopify, NCR, and the Blackhawk Network.

Strike, a digital platform for payments built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, announced a partnership with Canadian e-commerce giant, Shopify. The partnership will allow Shopify online card transactions to process bitcoin payments using Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.

Through the Lightning Network, Shopify merchants will now be able to receive bitcoin payments from customers globally as U.S. dollars, helping to diversify their payment options, reach new global markets, and increase their purchasing power through Strike’s integration.

“The Lightning Network is a global payments network that lowers costs, enhances speed, drives innovation, improves financial inclusion, and brings the power of choice to consumers and merchants,” said Strike CEO Jack Mallers. “We’re proud to partner with Shopify to provide merchants with a cheaper and faster way to accept U.S. dollars using Bitcoin technology.”

Mallers, a passionate bitcoin enthusiast and Lightning Network advocate, spoke before a packed audience at the Miami Beach Conference Center mainstage. “You’re gonna be able to walk into millions of American storefronts that plug into the payments stalwarts and pay across the Lightning Network,” he shared to attendees.

NCR/Blackhawk partnerships

The Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus also noted that Chicago-based payment platform has partnered with NCR, the largest point-of-sale (POS) supplier globally, and Blackhawk, a payments firm.

By leveraging the Lightning Network, the integration provides an alternative to traditional credit networks such as MasterCard or Visa. This allows users to send and receive cryptocurrency fast and cheaply, by moving transactions off the main blockchain.

Mallers also revealed that the service would be available to anyone with a Lightning Network-enabled wallet.

Major retailers welcome Strike with open doors

Upon Maller’s announcement, major retailers including Walmart, Macy’s, Starbucks, Home Depot, Chick-Fil-A, and Best Buy were quick to welcome Strike onboard. The CEO says that more than 400,000 stores will now begin to accept Bitcoin via Lightning Network, drastically cutting down overhead costs.

“This is about America and we need to protect our ability to innovate,” Mallers explained. He was extremely critical of the existing financial system’s inability to innovate. “There’s not been since 1949 a superior payments network that allows us to innovate, build on financial inclusion, offer cheaper services faster services. My grandfather used the same technology as I do.”

Dorsey, Robinhood ecstatic

There has been generous support for Mallers’ presentation, with Block CEO Jack Dorsey publicly expressing his support.

CNBC host and Crypto Banter founder Ran NeuNer also took to Twitter:

“I don’t think anyone comprehends the true magnitude of @jackmallers announcement today. This changes everything,” he said.

Mallers’ announcement could also lead to a surge in mainstream adoption of Lightning Network. On Tuesday, Robinhood (HOOD) announced that its new wallet would allow for bitcoin transactions on Lightning Network, while Lightning Labs announced the opening up of the Lightning Network to both stablecoins and fiat currencies via the Taro protocol.

Another application of the Lightning Network would be Strike’s integration to Twitter, which would allow creators to be tipped through Tip Jar by users who could send payments without paying Layer-1 fees.

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