The Bitcoin-based payment network and financial app Strike announced that it is expanding its Bitcoin Lightning Network-based money transfer services to the Philippines.
Announcement that Strike is entering one of the world's largest remittance markets, valued at $35 million.
Expansion in the Philippines
Digital payment firm Strike has announced that it is expanding its international money transfer services in the Philippines. According to a press release, the Send Globally remittance service is due to be available in the Philippines as early as Tuesday. The service is powered by Bitcoin Lightning Network and allows for faster and cheaper international payments compared to existing methods in the traditional financial system. Strike CEO Jack Mallers stated on Twitter,
Strike users can now send U.S. dollars directly to bank and mobile money accounts in the Philippines
Users of the service can send funds through the service, which can then be received into the recipient's bank account in the local currency. Mallers said,
The Philippines is one of the largest remittance markets in the world, especially in the United States. As for the technology we are building, it is one of the least hanging fruits - international payments are a huge pain and have always been. There's been an incremental innovation from SWIFT and Western Union, but it's still incredibly difficult." According to Statista data, in 2021 alone, about $12.7 billion in cash was sent by U.S.-based Filipinos to their home country.
Instant Payments
Traditional cross-border money transfer services are cumbersome, with banks taking several days to transfer funds from a single account to the recipient's account. Thanks to the Lightning network, Strike is capable of using instant, low-cost micropayments, allowing the facilitation of billions of transactions per second through the platform. The Strike app also allows users to transfer USD in local currencies, such as the Philippine peso in the case of the Philippines, at extremely low fees. Maller said,
"None of our users have to touch Bitcoin. The business's aspiration is to hide Bitcoin under the hood" so that users can benefit from its payment network."
The Strike app converts dollars to BTC and sends a Lightning payment to the partner in the recipient country. In the Philippines, Strike has partnered with payment firm Bitcoin Pouch.ph. It is then converted to the local currency and sent to the recipient's bank account. According to Mallers, the entire process is protected by users so that they are relieved of the complexity of Bitcoin payments and can avoid any potential tax implications.
There are all sorts of tax consequences involved – if I wanted to remit money from here to the Philippines, I have to tell the IRS about it. That's ridiculous. We use lightning properties under the hood. So, our users don't even know that we are using it. They just send dollars and they get pesos."
Expansion plans and partnerships
"Strike" has already made the news thanks to working with El Salvador, which has recognized Bitcoin as legal tender and has gained a lot of publicity because of it. Looking at El Salvador, we may see other countries, such as Panama, adopting BTC as legal tender, where "Strike" can play an important role. Strike said its purpose is to disrupt the traditional remittance industry, which is affected by high fees and heavy processing times.
When you think differently than usual, you think of the ordinary experience as too fast or as too cheap. We are using the unique Lightning Network of Bitcoin under the curtain to accomplish some things that were almost impossible before.”
the strike is also planning on expanding to other areas of Latin America and Africa due to the growing global demand. Mallers said Strike sees demand from areas of the UK and Europe and plans to add twenty new countries to the African region in February. In the previous month of this year, Strike's Send Globally launched in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.
Strike also announced a partnership with payment provider Finserv to expand its services. The platform also raised $80 million in a Series B funding round to develop its payment solutions for markets, merchants, and financial institutions. Strike also announced a partnership with Visa in 2022, offering users a reward card associated with its app. Companies like Twitter have also enabled bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network with Strike.
