Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced a series of product updates and strategic moves on Wednesday, including the launch of proof-of-reserve lending, a new “volatility-proof” bitcoin-backed loan structure built with Tether and a $2.1 billion credit facility.
He also said he supports a proposal by Tether Investments to merge Strike with Twenty-One Capital and bitcoin miner Elektron Energy.
Mallers said Strike’s bitcoin-backed loans and credit business has grown since its launch, with users drawn to the ability to borrow against bitcoin rather than sell it.
He described bitcoin as a savings account for many customers and said Strike cut its rate levels across the board. Pricing now ranges from approximately 10.5% APR for loans under $250,000 to approximately 7.49% APR for loans over $5 million.
Strike announced the first iteration of its lending proof-of-reserves, which allows borrowers to verify that their collateral is present and segregated in a separate on-chain address.
“We want you to trust us and know that we are who we say we are,” Mallers said. The disclosure mechanism was developed in collaboration with Tether, which Mallers credited with helping Strike build the transparency infrastructure.
The two companies also jointly developed what Mallers called “volatility-proof” bitcoin-backed loans, a structure that removes the risk of forced liquidation when bitcoin prices fall or broader markets decline.
Mallers said the unbundled collateral product is available now through Strike’s private client desk, and the volatility-secured lending feature is available to clients as part of the bitcoin-backed lending suite.
Mallers announced that Strike has secured a $2.1 billion credit facility, which he said gives the company the capacity to meet demand for any order size within its lending business.
Merger proposal
Earlier Wednesday, Tether Investments announced a proposal to merge Twenty-One Capital with Strike and Elektron Energy, a large-scale bitcoin mining operator that manages approximately 50 EH/s, or about 5% of the current Bitcoin network hashrate.
Tether said the combined entity would integrate bitcoin treasury holdings, mining, financial services, lending and capital markets under a single publicly traded platform.
Mallers said he supports the plan. “Simply put, I think it’s a good idea,” he said, adding that building a Bitcoin company — not a narrow payment app — was his fundamental goal. Elektron founder Raphael Zagury has been proposed as president of the combined entity under the plan.
The Bitcoin Business Quadrant and Maller’s Vision
Mallers used a quadrant framework on stage to argue that the Bitcoin industry has a gap at the intersection of high conviction and high operating income.
He placed crypto exchanges in the high-income, low-conviction corner, saying they run profitable businesses but list many coins and build products across asset classes. He placed bitcoin tax companies in a high-conviction, low-income corner, describing them as deeply committed to bitcoin but limited in operating business scope.
He cited Coinbase as an exchange that could carry more bitcoin on its balance sheet and praised MicroStrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor while distinguishing between a financial strategy and a product strategy. “I love him and his company,” Mallers said of Saylor, “but I want to build bitcoin products.”
His response to the gap was a four-pillar model: a treasury department covering brokerage, custody, loans, payments, treasury management and primary services; bitcoin infrastructure spanning energy, power generation, mining, hardware and hosting; a capital markets operation built around loan book securitization, mining revenue securitization, bitcoin-backed debt and structured products; and a mergers and acquisitions function targeting profitable bitcoin businesses across software, custody, payments, energy and distribution.
The stated goal of the M&A arm, as presented on his slide, is to give “every dollar of operating income one job: buy more Bitcoin.”
Mallers concluded by saying that a platform of that scale could “change the world with its products” and quoted a phrase he has used throughout his career: “Fix the money, fix the world.”