Strike, the payments company founded by Jack Mallers, is rolling out what it calls “volatility-proof” bitcoin loans. The idea? Borrow against your bitcoin without worrying about getting liquidated when the price moves against you.
Traditional crypto lending has a brutal problem. Bitcoin drops 30 percent, your collateral gets called, and suddenly you’re selling at the bottom. Strike claims their product solves this with a structure that protects borrowers from that exact scenario.
There’s a catch though. If you miss an interest payment or let the loan reach maturity without paying it back, your collateral can still be partially liquidated. So it’s not truly risk-free — it’s protection from market volatility, not from your own missed payments.
The product is aimed at bitcoin holders who want access to cash without selling their coins. That’s a big market. People don’t want to trigger taxable events, and they don’t want to miss out on future price gains. A loan lets them have both — if the terms are right.
Strike has been expanding its financial services beyond simple payments. This is the latest step in that direction. Whether “volatility-proof” holds up in practice is another question. But the demand for better crypto lending products is real.
