Jack Mallers

Jack Mallers is an American entrepreneur and software engineer best known as the founder and CEO of Strike, a digital payments platform built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. A third-generation finance professional from Chicago, Mallers has emerged as one of the most vocal and recognizable proponents of Bitcoin as a monetary network. He is credited with playing a pivotal role in El Salvador‘s historic adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.

Overview

Mallers is widely regarded as the “face of the Lightning Network,” the Layer-2 scaling solution that enables instant, virtually free Bitcoin transactions. Unlike many crypto founders who focus on trading or decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, Mallers focuses almost exclusively on Bitcoin as a superior rail for global payments. His company, Strike, competes directly with traditional remittance services like Western Union and payment processors like Visa, aiming to democratize financial access by removing legacy banking fees.

Mallers is a staunch “Bitcoin Maximalist,” frequently arguing that Bitcoin is the only digital asset with the properties necessary to solve the world's monetary problems. His rhetorical style is known for its intensity and emotional conviction, often framing Bitcoin adoption as a moral imperative to fix a broken fiat currency system.

Early Life and Background

Born in Chicago in 1994, Mallers hails from a family with deep roots in traditional finance. His grandfather, William J. Mallers Sr., was the youngest-ever Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and is famously credited with creating the first options exchange. His father founded one of Chicago's largest futures brokerages.

Despite this institutional pedigree, Jack took a divergent path. After attending St. John's University in New York for one year, he dropped out to enroll in the Starter School, a coding bootcamp in Chicago. This technical pivot allowed him to combine his family's financial insights with software engineering, eventually leading him to discover Bitcoin in 2013.

Strike and the Lightning Network

Mallers founded Zap Solutions in 2017 to build non-custodial Lightning wallets, but his breakout success came with the launch of Strike in 2020. Strike differs from traditional crypto exchanges by acting primarily as a payments app. It uses the Lightning Network to settle fiat-to-fiat transactions instantly, meaning a user can send dollars from the U.S. that arrive as Euros in Europe, with Bitcoin serving as the invisible bridge asset in the middle.

Under his leadership, Strike has secured major partnerships to integrate Bitcoin payments into mainstream commerce:

• Global Expansion: By 2024 and 2025, Strike had expanded its services to over 100 countries, including key remittance corridors in Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
• Corporate Integration: Mallers has worked to integrate Strike's API with point-of-sale giants like NCR and e-commerce platforms like Shopify, enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin payments over Lightning.
• Innovation: In 2025, Strike introduced “Smart Order Routing” to improve trade execution and expanded its Bitcoin-backed loan products.

Role in El Salvador

Mallers gained global attention in June 2021 at the Bitcoin Conference in Miami, where he tearfully announced that he had been working with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to draft the “Bitcoin Law.” This legislation made El Salvador the first sovereign nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

While Strike was instrumental in the initial advisory phase, the Salvadoran government ultimately launched its own state-run wallet, Chivo, rather than using Strike exclusively. Despite this, Mallers remains a key figure in the narrative of nation-state Bitcoin adoption.

Philosophy and Controversies

Mallers' philosophy is encapsulated in his slogan: “Fix the money, fix the world.” He views central banking and fiat currency debasement as the root causes of wealth inequality. This stance has made him a hero to Bitcoiners but a controversial figure in the broader financial world.

Risks and criticisms include:

• Custodial Risk: Unlike his earlier work with Zap, Strike is a custodial service. Mallers argues this is necessary for regulatory compliance and ease of use, though he actively encourages users to withdraw their Bitcoin to self-custody wallets immediately after purchase.
• Regulatory Hurdles: As Strike expands globally, it faces a patchwork of complex regulations. The company has had to navigate strict money transmission laws in the U.S. and the MiCA framework in Europe.
• “Bitcoin Only” Stance: Mallers frequently disparages other cryptocurrencies (which he labels “sh*tcoins”), alienating parts of the broader crypto industry who view his maximalism as toxic or limiting.

• Strike CEO & Founder
  (Zap Solutions, Inc) CEO & Founder