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Strike App, Now Live in Twitter Tip Feature, Also Launches Bitcoin Payments API
The move from the Jack Mallers-led startup could be a boon for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
By Danny Nelson
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:19 p.m. Published Sep 23, 2021, 6:10 p.m.
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Strike, a payments company led by entrepreneur Jack Mallers, is making the technology behind Twitter’s new bitcoin tipping feature open to the world.
On Thursday, the startup said its “Strike API” – a payments plugin that processes bitcoin transactions over the Lightning Network – will roll out across a series of business partners. The identity of those businesses will be made public “in the coming months,” according to a Medium blog post.
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“Soon, any internet network, online marketplace, merchant, business, developer and more will have access to cheaper, faster, global payments of any size with the Strike API,” Mallers wrote in the post.
Mallers said a “select group” of businesses are preparing to integrate Strike API in the weeks ahead. That promise raises the prospect of massive new adoption of the Lightning Network, a layer 2 technology that allows users to make faster and lower-fee Bitcoin transactions.
Read more: Twitter to Add Bitcoin Lightning Tips, NFT Authentication
The news is timed to a major rollout from Twitter in which Strike plays a part. The social media giant added bitcoin tipping to iOS users as of today; the tipping feature will rely entirely on such third-party payments services as Cash App and Strike.
Mallers, almost certainly a bitcoin millionaire, said his Twitter profile is now accepting tips. He intends to redirect the donations to the pro-bitcoin Human Rights Foundation – with a deduction of $10 a week for him.
“Why the $10?” Mallers wrote in the Medium post. “Well, that’s how much a six-pack of beer costs.”
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