Jack Mallers

Jack Mallers is a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency community as the founder and CEO of Zap, Strike's parent company. Strike is a popular no-fee app that allows users to quickly make and receive payments over Bitcoin's Lightning Network. Mallers was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is the third generation in his family to go into finance. He attended college at St. John's University in New York but dropped out after a year to attend a coding school in Chicago. He gained an interest in technology at the coding school and started building apps. Mallers was first introduced to Bitcoin by his father in 2013, but he began looking at cryptocurrency more seriously a few years later. 

In 2017, he recognized the potential of the Lightning Network to change the way we view payments. In the summer of 2017, he introduced Zap, a user-friendly non-custodial wallet that could make payments over the Lightning Network. Mallers' goal with Strike was to lower the barrier for using the Lightning Network. He believes Bitcoin, and specifically the Lightning Network, to be a superior payment network that allows for innovation, financial inclusion, accessibility, and cheaper, more efficient financial services.

Jack Mallers is a well-known entrepreneur and influencer in the cryptocurrency space. He is the founder and CEO of Zap, the parent company of Strike, a popular app facilitating Lightning Network payments. Jack attended St. John's University but dropped out to attend a coding school in Chicago, where he developed apps for wheelchair-accessible transportation and fitness trainers.

Introduced to Bitcoin by his father in 2013, Jack recognized the potential of the Lightning Network in 2017. He founded Zap, aiming to provide a user-friendly non-custodial wallet for Lightning Network payments. After facing initial challenges, Zap launched Olympus in 2019, simplifying fiat-to-bitcoin on-ramp transactions.

In 2020, Jack rebranded Olympus as Strike, a custodial platform allowing Lightning Network transactions using debit cards or bank accounts. Strike gained popularity for its fee-free bitcoin buying and selling options and became a prominent choice for remittances in El Salvador. Jack's advocacy centers around financial transaction accessibility as a basic human right.

Jack Mallers' vision is to make Bitcoin and the Lightning Network more accessible to the general public, particularly for everyday transactions. He believes that Bitcoin, as a decentralized and open-source technology, has the potential to create a more inclusive and fair financial system.

Mallers sees the Lightning Network as a solution to Bitcoin's scalability issues, enabling fast, cheap, and secure transactions that can be used for everyday purchases. He believes that the Lightning Network can become a new global payment network that provides financial inclusion and access to cheaper, more efficient financial services.

Through his company Strike, Mallers is working to achieve this vision by creating a user-friendly platform that allows users to transact with Bitcoin over the Lightning Network using their existing bank accounts and debit cards. By making it easy and accessible for anyone to use Bitcoin, Mallers hopes to drive the adoption of the technology and create a more decentralized and inclusive financial system.