Strike Announces Integration With Shopify to Facilitate Bitcoin Payments Via Lightning Network

Digital payments platform Strike has announced integration with e-commerce giant Shopify in a bid to enable merchants to accept BTC payments as US dollars seamlessly.

Strike-Shopify Partnership

According to the official announcement, the integration will enable merchants to accept payments globally and cut costs in terms of processing fees with a cash-final settlement while offering an alternative to traditional options.

This is expected to help Shopify tap previously unexplored global markets and purchasing power while allowing its merchants to generate savings via low-cost payment processing. The Chicago-based platform should also eliminate complexities merchants face while holding Bitcoin by instantly converting BTC payments to USD.

Unveiling the partnership on stage at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, Strike Founder and CEO Jack Mallers commented,

“We’re proud to partner with Shopify to provide merchants with a cheaper and faster way to accept U.S. dollars using Bitcoin technology. The Lightning Network is a global payments network that lowers costs, enhances speed, drives innovation, improves financial inclusion, and brings the power of choice to consumers and merchants.”

The exec also revealed that the service will be accessible to any consumer globally with an LN-enabled wallet, including over 70 million users of Block’s CashApp.

The integration is a part of Strike’s ambitious roadmap to accelerate Bitcoin adoption for commerce both online and in-store. So far, Los Angeles-based streetwear brand Warren Lotas is the only merchant partner onboarded by the firm.

Besides, Mallers also announced Strike’s partnership with alternative payment provider Blackhawk Network, which boasts 400,000 storefronts and 37,000 partners, including Facebook, eBay, Disney, Amazon, Visa, etc.

Growing Adoption of Lightning Network

In yet another massive push for Lightning Network, Robinhood’s Chief Product Officer Aparna Chennapragada revealed that the brokerage firm will add support for Bitcoin transactions on Lightning Network in the near future. This is an integration that is part of a strategy to minimize heavy costs incurred by users in digital asset transfers.

As reported by CryptoPotato earlier, the popular cryptocurrency payments provider – BitPay – announced integrating Bitcoin’s lightning network into its platform earlier this week.

In November, Perth Heat, a top Australian baseball team, integrated the scaling solution into its daily operations and also expected to go “all-in on a Bitcoin standard” by enabling BTC settlements for its athletes and employees.