Categories: Bitcoin Latest News

Strike CEO : El Salvador’s Bitcoin Experience ‘Doesn’t Hurt My Company at All’

The CEO and founder of Strike joined CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” to discuss El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption and why the mobile payments app plans to revolutionize payments for merchants and consumers globally.Read MoreCoinDesk

Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of mobile payment app Strike, said the slow pace of bitcoin (BTC) use in El Salvador shouldn’t be tied to his company.

“It doesn’t hurt my company at all,” Mallers said on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” program Thursday.

“We have no commercial relationship [with El Salvador],” Mallers said. “There are no revenue projections based on advice I gave to a president of a country and it doesn’t hurt our company whatsoever.”

Mallers and the Chicago-based Strike were involved in El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s ambitious vision to have more residents use bitcoin.

However, as CoinDesk’s David Z. Morris reported, one year after the country recognized bitcoin as legal tender acceptance has failed to live up to expectations.

Mallers said neither he nor Strike are “government consultants,” reiterating he and the company have “no commercial relationship with the government of El Salvador.”

He added, “Someone asked my help in conjunction with my opinion on bitcoin. I’ve been in this industry for close to 10 years and I’ve helped people that are 10 years old and I’ve helped governments, and I will continue to do it when I think it is in the best interest of the morals and principles that I was raised by.”

Mallers described El Salvador’s effort to promote bitcoin “a success.” However, he added, “you’re talking about a country that’s in an emerging market and has been historically crushed by inflation, crushed by central banks such as the [U.S.] Federal Reserve.”

Despite the volatile crypto market, Mallers said he doesn’t think it is “hurting bitcoin’s opportunity as a store of value.” He also said he does not think volatility in bitcoin hinders its underlying technology from being used as a payment rail that can compete with payment behemoths like Visa and Western Union.

Mallers said the benefits that can come with using the Bitcoin network layer 2 protocol Lighting Network, including faster and cheaper transactions, is “a groundbreaking innovation.” Strike customers currently use the underlying payments system for the transfer of fiat currency, and Mallers expects the use of bitcoin to pick up dramatically over time.

“You have a digital instrument that can move at the speed of light and settle at virtually no cost,” Mallers said. Bitcoin “does something that payment networks have never been able to do in the history of payment networks.”

Strike most recently raised $80 million in a Series B funding round that included such notable institutions as Washington University and the University of Wyoming.

Funds raised will be used “to work with the biggest institutions in the world,” according to Mallers, who said the goal is “to get them onto the payment rail.”

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

Recent Posts

The Protocol: Bitcoin Bridged Trustlessly to L2; Ethereum’s Blob Mob

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech…

19 minutes ago

Bitcoin Pumps Above $97K, Then Dumps, as Ether, XRP Surge 7%

Bitcoin zoomed above $97,000, bringing hopes of breaching the landmark $100,000 level on social media,…

19 minutes ago

Looking to Earn More on Dogecoin? This Bitcoin Layer-2 Will Use DOGE for Yields

Bitcoin layer-2 network GOAT will soon let dogecoin (DOGE) users stake their tokens to earn…

19 minutes ago

UltraShort Bitcoin ETF Offering 2x Inverse Returns Sees Record Volume as BTC Holds Above $90K

There’s something about major psychological price levels, like bitcoin's (<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/price/bitcoin/ " target="_blank">BTC</a>) $100,000 mark.…

19 minutes ago

Bitcoin Miners Approach $40B Market Cap as Difficulty Set for Fifth Straight Increase

Publicly traded bitcoin (<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/price/bitcoin/ " target="_blank">BTC</a>) miners are approaching the milestone of an aggregated…

19 minutes ago

Bitcoin to Overcome $100K Despite Pullback, Has Plenty of More Room Before Topping: CryptoQuant

Bitcoin's (<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/price/bitcoin" target="_blank">BTC</a>) pullback from the $100,000 level after continuously hitting fresh new highs…

19 minutes ago