Jack Mallers, a developer of the popular Lightning wallet Zap Wallet, proclaimed the start of Strike's open beta. With it, users will be able to make payments in bitcoin through direct bank transfers.
“We have entered the Visa Fintech Fast Track program. It means accelerating integration with blockchain startups and providing its participants with resources and support at every stage,” Mallers said in an interview.
The main task for this year in Zap is the launch of the Strike card for users of the consumer application and the integration of the Visa Direct quick payment service into it.
This year, Fold startup became a member of the Fast Track program, which announced the release of a Visa debit card to receive cashback in bitcoins. Besides, there is a debit card issued by Coinbase that lets you pay with cryptocurrency. What option will be offered to Zap card holders is unknown.
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Mallers plans to compete with Jack Dorsey's Square App and Coinbase at a lower cost.
In Strike, users will have a unique domain name that they can use to send bitcoins simply by scanning a QR code. A similar service called Ethereum Name Service was created in the ecosystem of the second-largest cryptocurrency
Strike is not a cryptocurrency wallet and will convert bitcoins to dollars on the server-side to credit them to the user's account. That will allow you to transfer bitcoins to any person who owns a card or account in an American bank, as well as transfer tax liabilities for conversion to intermediaries.
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The public identifier provided in Strike will not be associated with the address of the bitcoin wallet. Responsibility for managing them will rest with the startup. Thus, it will be possible, for example, to send a transfer to the content creator without revealing personal data to each other.
Visa confirmed the information on working with Zap but did not explain.