(Kitco News) - Strike, a digital payments platform built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, has announced that it is expanding its international money transfer service to the Philippines in a bid to tap into the country’s thriving $12 billion remittance market.
The Lightning Network is a layer 2 payment protocol built on top of Bitcoin that enables faster and cheaper transactions between participating nodes through the use of off-chain transactions.
According to a press release from the company, it will be expanding its “Send Globally” product to include users in the Southeast Asian country, enabling fast, secure, and low-cost money transfers between the U.S. and the Philippines.
More than $35 billion in funds are sent to the Philippines from abroad each year, with $12 billion of that coming from the U.S., making it one of the largest remittance markets in the world.
Strike partnered with the Philippine-based Pouch.ph, an app that facilitates payments on the Lightning Network, to enable transfers in U.S. dollars that are received as Philippine pesos in a recipient's bank or mobile money account in the Philippines.
“Remittances are a broken system and Strike delivers an incredibly empowering experience for people to send money around the world in nearly an instant,” said Jack Mallers, Strike’s founder and CEO. “We’re excited to partner with Pouch.ph to advance financial inclusion and bring fast, low-cost cross-border payments via the Lightning Network to the Philippines. Our technology allows us to both improve on the existing cross-border experience and include those that have previously been excluded by legacy payment rails.”
The Lightning Network enables faster, cheaper, and more accessible digital payments for people around the world, especially those who live in countries with a high number of unbanked individuals.
In order to provide its service, Send Globally converts U.S. dollars into bitcoin, which is then sent via the Lightning Network to a third-party partner operating in the recipient’s country. The BTC is then converted into the local currency and sent directly to the recipient’s bank or mobile money account. This helps eliminate concerns related to Bitcoin’s tax treatment, dollar volatility, or custody implications.
"The U.S. to Philippines remittance market is one of the largest in the world, and until now, most Filipino-Americans have been limited to outdated options,” said Ethan Rose, Founder and CEO of Pouch.ph. “However, with the integration of Pouch.ph and Strike, we’re revolutionizing the way cross-border payments are made, empowering people to easily send money to their loved ones back home."
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A recent study conducted by Trading Browser shows that the Philippines ranks sixth in the world in terms of the most popular countries for cryptocurrency ownership and use. Out of a population of more than 108 million, 31.5 million citizens currently use or own cryptocurrency, an increase of 15.1 million (14%) from 2019 to 2022.
Top ten countries for cryptocurrency ownership and use. Source: Trading Browser
Send Globally was launched in December 2022, with Strike partnering with Bitnob to support transfers from the U.S. to Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. A subsequent partnership between CoinCenter and Bitnob enabled users in the U.K. to transfer money to Africa as well.
“The user experience and ability to bridge communities in the U.S. and Africa in partnership with Bitnob have been transformational and the opportunities for Strike in these and other markets are developing fast,” the press release said.
Send Globally will be available for remittance purposes and for use by tourists and businesses in the Philippines beginning Tuesday.
