The digital payments company Strike is extending its international money transfer service that operates on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to the Philippines in an effort to tap into the country’s $12 billion remittance industry, which is one of the biggest in the world. According to a press release, the money transfer service Send Globally will be made accessible in the Philippines beginning on January 31.
Strike has formed a partnership with Pouch.ph to facilitate the conversion of U.S. dollars to Philippine pesos. These funds may then be deposited into a Philippine bank account or mobile money account, depending on the recipient’s preference.
Micropayments made via Strike are immediate and cost very little thanks to the Lightning Network, which is a layer-2 payment system built on top of Bitcoin. This protocol makes it possible for millions or perhaps billions of transactions to take place each second throughout the platform.
Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike, said:
“None of our users have to touch Bitcoin. The app uses Bitcoin to transfer money from one user’s account to another, regardless of its price. The aspiration of the business is to hide Bitcoin under the hood so users could benefit from its payment network.”
According to Mallers, remittances are a failing system, and Strike provides users with an extremely powerful experience that enables them to transfer money across the globe in what seems like an instant.
Bitcoin Lightning will keep expanding into new areas and gain new partners to provide improved payment services to communities all around the globe. Mallers said that, in response to overwhelming demand, Strike would soon launch in more Latin American and African markets in addition to the Philippines.
