Jack Mallers’ Strike Announces Shopify Integration for Bitcoin Lightning Payments

Strike announced an integration with Shopify in a bid to help merchants receive bitcoin payments from customers in the form of U.S. dollars.

Speaking before a packed house at the Miami Beach Conference Center mainstage, Mallers, an ardent bitcoiner and Lightning Network advocate, said his “King’s gambit” would bring bitcoin back to its payments roots.

“If we can help make the Bitcoin network more accessible and usable we believe we can change the world,” he said. Leveraging Bitcoin for a cheap “payment network” is critical to that, he said, contrasting it with the “caviar-eating” history of boomer bank-issued credit cards that he said hasn’t innovated (beyond onboarding middlemen and their fees) in years.

“There’s not been since 1949 a superior payments network that allows us to innovate” for consumers, he claimed. “Let’s build the superior payments network from scratch.”

His lead-up laced in sarcasm, Mallers’ payoff was simple: Bitcoin’s Lightning Network “carries all the properties” for homegrown success.

Mallers also said Strike partnered with NCR, the world’s largest point-of-sale (POS) supplier.

This is a developing story and will be updated.