reply on: Strike expands Bitcoin payments to 65 countrie moves headquarters to ElSalvador \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cointastical 21 May 2023 \ on: Strike expands Bitcoin payments to 65 countrie moves headquarters to ElSalvador bitcoin

Some additional comments on this topic, from the SN post featuring a (terribly breif) CoinDesk article on the topic:

Bitcoin Payments App Strike Expands to More Than 65 Countries From Three #181787 https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/05/19/bitcoin-payments-app-strike-expands-to-65-countries-from-three/

Currently, customers in Strike's new markets will only be able to receive Bitcoin from other users, although Mallers said that he aims to launch new features, including a debit card, later this year.

So no fiat rails in these countries, yet.

Currently, dollar balances in Strike are held in Tether, a dollar-pegged stablecoin that has drawn criticism for its shadowy accounting. Mallers said that the company decided to go with Tether, as opposed to other options like Circle and Coinbase's USD Coin, because of demand from users in the Global South.

That is kind of surprising. I was assuming, with Strike being a U.S.-based exchange that my USD balance in my Strike account was held in some USD bank account in the U.S. Never assume, in this industry!! Of course, going to where El Salvador is there HQ I just assumed they would switch to stablecoins or something at that point, but going back I can't say I was aware they had already done that.