- Strike founder Jack Mallers has said that the app could launch in 50-100 countries this year
- Mallers told Peter McCormack that the recent Argentina rollout had been “wildly successful”
- Argentinian users are still reporting that any BTC their receive is instantly converted to USDT
Strike founder Jack Mallers has said that the app could roll out to up to 100 countries this year after a “wildly successful” launch in Argentina that saw some 100,000 downloads in its first two weeks. Strike, which is the platform on which El Salvador’s Chivo Bitcoin wallet operates, uses the Lightning Network to allow instant and near free Bitcoin transactions and has helped the Lightning Network break adoption records. However, Argentinian users are still reporting that any Bitcoin they accept is being immediately converted into USDT.
Argentina Rollout “Wildly Successful”
Mallers was speaking to Peter McCormack on the What Bitcoin Did podcast recently when the topic of the Argentina rollout came up. Strike announced support for the Argentinian market on January 12 and within a week it had become the fifth most popular finance app in the country. This follows Strike being chosen as the platform for El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout last year.
Mallers told McCormack that the Argentina rollout was “was wildly successful” and that “within the first two weeks we got a hundred thousand downloads and registrations and users signed up.” However, this was followed by reports that there was no option to buy and send bitcoin, and that any bitcoin received by Argentinian users was instantly being converted into USDT. More than a month later, this still seems to be the case:
Yes. You can ask BTC but it will be converted to USDT pic.twitter.com/as3uVrJTV9
— Carlos Tu (@tucharliecarlos) February 14, 2022
Mallers Needs Bitcoin Integration Soon
Mallers has so far failed to respond to these claims from users, but despite this apparent setback he still seems confident in the direction of the company, saying that “…we’re going to launch in 50 countries this year…100 countries this year, I don’t know.”
Hopefully these countries will be allowed to send and receive bitcoin or these “wildly successful” rollouts may cease to be so.
