Jack Mallers, the developer of the Zap Lightning Wallet, announced on Thursday his new app for iPhone, Android and Chrome, which allows users to send and receive Bitcoin (BTC) and Lightning Network payments directly from and to a bank account.
Strike, which has now entered the public beta phase, enables interaction with the Bitcoin and Lightning protocols with no wallet, seed, channels, liquidity or white papers, while Know Your Customer protocols are kept to a bare minimum.
Mallers wants Bitcoin to reach mainstream adoption. To this end, he created Zap in 2018 — one of the first desktop wallets making the features of the Lightning Network accessible through a user-friendly interface.
Furthermore, as Cointelegraph reported, last autumn Mallers announced his intent to develop a platform offering instant debit card Bitcoin purchases via the Lightning Network. Strike is the result of that work and goes some way beyond its original remit.
While Strike does let one purchase Bitcoin with a debit card or bank account, it can also be used for remittances and personal payments, micropayments and both online and offline purchases.
It also comes with a strike.me social media profile, which lets users accept free payments from anywhere in the world via an online QR code. Payments received are instantly converted into fiat.
Keep Your Confidentiality
One of Mallers' key objectives was to meet regulations while reducing KYC and Anti-Money Laundering procedures, saying:
“The last thing I want is to introduce a new demographic of users to Bitcoin, only to have them treated as criminals as soon as they download Strike.”
Rather than accepting the commonly utilized belt and braces approach, he set about meeting lawyers and educating regulators to work out how much KYC/AML was “good enough.”
With the average payment value in the private beta being around $27, there is little need for mass collection of information and identification. Most users of the app will only need to enter a name and phone number.
Some states are excluded, and Strike will not initially be available in those regions.
Just the beginning
Mallers has big plans for the future of Strike. There is reportedly a Strike Visa debit card in the works, along with a rewards program through partnered merchants and referrals for friends and family.
Strike has also been working to provide merchants with tools to process contactless payments, and an improved e-commerce system is also being rolled out.