Jack Mallers denied tricking people about Strike’s expansion plans.
The comment came in response to a tweet from @fiatjaf, who played down the new plans’ significance, release timeline, and impact in the broader crypto industry.
“So Strike is just a normal dumb custodial sh*tcoin wallet with integrated exchange and no interface to the banking system whatsoever?
Looks like Jack Mallers has tricked everybody again.”
However, citing a recent speech at Bitcoin Miami, Mallers pointed out that he did not say that Strike’s expansion plans were live. Maller replied, stating,
“We’ll be turning on all of our Send Globally markets and more on/off ramps options, all out of our El Salvador E4 HQ.”
Strike to expand operations.
On May 19, Strike, which already operates in the U.S., El Salvador, and Argentina, announced plans to expand its presence to 65 countries.
Speaking to Fortune, Mallers said he thinks there is a global demand for Strike’s frictionless Bitcoin and Tether-based services – as opposed to “a clouded world of crypto exchanges and hidden, unregistered licensing regimes and 1,000 different coins.”
Touching on regulatory woes facing the industry, particularly in the U.S., Mallers said Strike’s “Bitcoin-first approach” means he isn’t too concerned about the company facing enforcement action at the hands of regulators.
“Every other instrument in this industry has a founding team, a foundation, and they issued some [tokens] privately and handed them out in auctions before they went live—and that sounds a lot more like a security.”
The company hopes to broaden its banking services, including more on-off ramps and a debit card later this year. He also spoke about expanding the Send Globally feature, which enables fiat exchange using Bitcoin as a bridging asset. Currently, this is available in only 12 countries.
Strike is moving its headquarters from Chicago, U.S., to El Salvador, which has a favorable crypto legal framework, including zero tax on technology innovations, software programming, and hardware manufacturing.
Mallers gives Bitcoin Miami talk.
Regarding accusations of tricking people, Mallers referred to his appearance at Bitcoin Miami, stating that the company’s on-off ramps are not all operational.
“What is not live today because I don’t want to be misleading, is all of our on and off ramps.”
He added that expanding global on-off ramps and developing Send Globally is part of a play to compete with Binance – which he said, along with FTX, “haven’t been totally proven to be trustworthy and honest.”
