Zap to launch cross-border transfers service built on the Lightning Network

Zap’s CEO Jack Mallers announced a global initiative to roll out the Strike payments app based on the Lightning Network worldwide.

I just published Announcing Strike Global.

Today, the world changes; the fundamentals of value exchange between our species enters a new epoch.

Send money anywhere, at any time, in seconds, and at no cost 🔥🚀🌚https://t.co/RfjyW5cnQohttps://t.co/2hZXhG4x8m pic.twitter.com/oDA13npo3M

— Jack Mallers (@JackMallers) January 6, 2021

In partnership with the Bittrex exchange, the service aims to expand its footprint to more than 200 countries.

The Strike app, which enables paying Lightning invoices using bank cards alone, without wallets or other LN-native solutions, was introduced by the startup in January 2020.

Beta testing of the product began in the United States six months ago. Mallers noted that it has seen great success: the number of registered users has surpassed the five-figure mark, and monthly payments run into the millions of dollars.

According to Mallers, Strike Global will allow virtually instantaneous and free money transfers between countries, converting to local currency.

The founder of Zap described the process of a possible $1000 transfer from Chicago to Berlin:

• The sender initiates the payment and Strike debits $1000 from their balance;
• The service automatically converts the funds into bitcoins, ready for use in its infrastructure;
• The amount in bitcoins is transferred in less than a second to a European Strike endpoint via LN;
• The service then converts the cryptocurrency into euros, which are credited to the recipient’s account.

In Mallers’ view, Strike Global could replace outdated international transfer systems, including SWIFT or TransferWise.

Initially the service will add support for the euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc, and the stablecoins USDT and USDC.

The pilot project is planned to start in El Salvador. The country currently ranks eighth in terms of incoming remittances from the United States. In 2017, the figure stood at $4.6 billion. According to locals, using services such as SWIFT and Western Union can be costly, slow, and risky. Fees reach 10% and more, transactions take from several days to weeks, and local gangs monitor cash-out points and collect a toll from recipients.

When sending dollars to El Salvador, Strike will credit the recipient with the corresponding amount in USDT, which they can use for P2P payments. If cash in local currency is needed, the user can use a Bitcoin ATM or a cryptocurrency trading point. The service will automatically convert the stablecoin into the leading cryptocurrency.

For details on how and why residents of a village in El Salvador are using the Lightning Network, see ForkLog.

Residents of a village in El Salvador are using the Lightning Network. We explain how this happened

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