Onramp Finance vs Strike: An Honest Comparison for Bitcoin Holders

Onramp Finance and Strike are both Bitcoin-native platforms built for US holders, but they are optimized for different things. Strike is a payments-first platform built around the Lightning Network, global remittances, and Bitcoin-backed loans. Onramp Finance is a wealth platform built to hold and grow a Bitcoin position, combining brokerage, an earn account, the Onramp Card, Bitcoin-backed loans through Arch Lending, and the Onramp Terminal at a free entry tier, with a defined upgrade path to Multi-Institution Custody at Onramp Core. Here is how they actually compare.

Key Takeaways:

• Strike is a Bitcoin-native payments platform with best-in-class Lightning Network integration, Send Globally for international remittances, competitive DCA pricing, and Bitcoin-backed loans. Strike is optimized for using Bitcoin as a payment rail and accumulating it efficiently. Strike does not offer a Bitcoin IRA, a research and data terminal, integrated inheritance planning, or Multi-Institution Custody.
• Onramp Finance is the free entry tier ($0/month) of a Bitcoin wealth platform, with Bitcoin brokerage at 0.85%, an earn account paying up to 3% (Onramp-funded rewards, not interest), recurring buys, the Onramp Card with 0.5% Bitcoin cash-back, Bitcoin-backed loans through Arch Lending with an optional deferred-interest structure, custody at BitGo Trust with Lloyd's of London insurance, and the Onramp Terminal research platform included at no additional cost.
• The custody philosophies differ. Strike is a single-custodian platform that encourages holders to auto-withdraw Bitcoin to their own self-custody wallet. Onramp offers Multi-Institution Custody as a service through Onramp Core, where three independent institutions distribute key control and the client holds no keys. Strike's answer to custody risk is self-custody; Onramp's is institutional distributed custody with no key-management burden.
• The right choice depends on how you use Bitcoin. If your Bitcoin life is centered on payments, Lightning, and remittances, Strike is the more native fit. If it is centered on holding, growing, borrowing against, and passing on a Bitcoin position with an institutional custody upgrade path, Onramp Finance is the more comprehensive platform. The two are not competing on the same dimension.

The Fundamental Difference

Strike and Onramp Finance are both Bitcoin-native, which puts them in the same broad camp. They diverge on what Bitcoin is primarily for. Strike treats Bitcoin as something you use: a payment rail, a remittance network, a medium of exchange over Lightning. Onramp Finance treats Bitcoin as something you hold and grow: a long-term savings asset with a financial services suite built around accumulating and protecting it.

A serious Strike user who wants tax-advantaged Bitcoin exposure, a research and data platform, integrated inheritance planning, or institutional-grade custody typically ends up running additional services alongside Strike. Onramp Finance is designed to consolidate those: brokerage, the earn account, the Onramp Card, Bitcoin-backed loans through Arch Lending, an optional Bitcoin IRA, the Onramp Terminal, and the upgrade path into Multi-Institution Custody.

The strategic distinction matters. Strike is built payments-first and treats custody as a function of the app, encouraging self-custody as the destination. Onramp is built custody-first, with Multi-Institution Custody operated since 2023 and the financial services layered on top. Both models are legitimate. They produce two different products for two different kinds of Bitcoin activity.

Strike at a Glance

Strike is a Bitcoin-native financial app built around the Lightning Network. Founded by Jack Mallers, Strike gained prominence through its role in Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador and its focus on making Bitcoin usable as a payment and remittance rail.

Strike features as of 2026:

• Best-in-class Lightning Network integration, with over two million monthly Lightning transactions and low routing fees
• Send Globally: international remittances that route dollars to Bitcoin over Lightning and back to local currency, with active corridors including Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam, and several African nations
• Competitive DCA pricing with low fees on recurring Bitcoin purchases
• Bitcoin buying, selling, and on-chain withdrawals, with auto-withdraw to push Bitcoin to a self-custody wallet you control
• Bitcoin-backed loans, now centralized with no rehypothecation, tiered APR (from around 7.49% for the largest loans up to around 10.5% for smaller loans), backed by a Tether-supported credit facility, with lending Proof of Reserves published on a quarterly basis
• A Visa card for spending, in select markets
• Strike publishes Proof of Reserves on the lending product

What Strike does not offer:

• No Bitcoin IRA
• No research and data terminal comparable to Onramp Terminal
• No earn account with rewards comparable to Onramp's
• No integrated inheritance planning
• No Multi-Institution Custody (Strike is single-custodian; its answer to custody risk is to encourage self-custody via auto-withdraw)

Strike is a strong fit for holders whose Bitcoin activity is payments-centric: sending money internationally over Lightning, paying merchants, receiving payments, and accumulating Bitcoin efficiently through low-fee DCA. The Send Globally remittance product is genuinely differentiated, and Strike's Lightning integration is among the best in the industry. Jack Mallers and the Strike team have real credibility in the Bitcoin payments space.

Onramp Finance at a Glance

Onramp Finance is the entry-level account on the Onramp platform, free forever. It is built on a custody foundation Onramp has operated since 2023.

Onramp Finance features (free, $0/month):

• Bitcoin brokerage at 0.85% in all 50 US states, with limit orders, ACH funding, and recurring buys for dollar-cost-averaging. Brokerage is also available internationally in many countries.
• Earn account paying up to 3% (Onramp-funded rewards from corporate revenue, eligibility tied to completing at least one bitcoin trade per month, not interest or yield). Earn rewards are not currently available to clients in New York, but a Finance account can still be opened there.
• The Onramp Card, a Visa debit card with 0.5% cash-back paid in dollars and convertible to Bitcoin in one click, accepted anywhere Visa is accepted
• Bitcoin-backed loans through Arch Lending, where Arch is the lender and holds the Bitcoin collateral with Anchorage, a regulated qualified custodian. Bitcoin-only collateral (Arch supports other digital assets but Onramp does not), up to 50% loan-to-value, fixed rates for the loan term, no rehypothecation, and an optional deferred interest payment structure where interest is paid at the end of the loan rather than monthly
• Custody at BitGo Trust, a regulated qualified custodian under South Dakota and New York trust banking law and one of the most established Bitcoin custodians in the United States, with Lloyd's of London insurance
• The Onramp Terminal: a Bitcoin-only research and data platform with thousands of interactive charts covering on-chain metrics, macro overlays, miner economics, ETF flows, and derivatives positioning, included free with every account
• Direct human client service through Onramp Client Services
• Bitcoin IRA available as a $100/month add-on at the Finance tier (custodied at the qualified custodian)

The thesis: Bitcoin is savings, dollars are working capital.

Onramp Finance is built around a specific framing: dollars in the platform are working capital, not savings. They earn rewards, enable spending through the Onramp Card, facilitate borrowing through Arch Lending, and ultimately flow into Bitcoin accumulation. Bitcoin in custody is the savings account. Everything else is a tool to help clients accumulate more of it.

The upgrade path through Onramp Core (and beyond):

Onramp Core at $250/month adds Multi-Institution Custody (MIC), where three independent regulated institutions (Onramp, BitGo Trust, and CoinCover) each hold one key in a 2-of-3 architecture. Transactions are initiated from the client's Onramp account, and two of three institutions work at the client's direction to execute. No single institution, including Onramp itself, can move client Bitcoin without the client's direction. Core also includes an included Bitcoin IRA in a Multi-Institution Custody vault, integrated inheritance planning with a built-in beneficiary designation, Lloyd's of London coverage up to $100 million per incident, Guardian Plus security services, real-time Proof of Reserves at the individual vault level, brokerage at 0.65%, earn rewards up to 4%, and 1% Bitcoin cash-back on the Onramp Card.

Onramp Private (0.04% of AUM per month) adds a dedicated account manager, reduced trading fees, Virtual Family Office access for estate and dynasty trust planning, brokerage at 0.32%, earn rewards up to 5%, and 1.5% Bitcoin cash-back.

Clients typically start on Finance and upgrade to Core when their Bitcoin position grows to the point where Multi-Institution Custody, an included IRA, integrated inheritance, and the higher-coverage Lloyd's policy matter more.

Payments and Lightning: Where Strike Leads

It is worth being clear about where Strike genuinely leads, because it is a real strength that Onramp does not try to replicate.

Strike owns the Bitcoin payments and Lightning use case. The Lightning integration is among the best in the industry, with millions of monthly transactions and low routing fees. Send Globally is a genuinely innovative remittance product: it routes dollars into Bitcoin over Lightning and out to local currency in the recipient's country, which makes international money transfer faster and cheaper than traditional remittance rails for the corridors it supports. For holders who send money internationally, pay merchants in Bitcoin, or use Bitcoin actively as a medium of exchange, Strike is the more native platform.

Onramp Finance is not a payments platform. It is a wealth platform. Onramp's Bitcoin activity is oriented around holding, accumulating, borrowing against, and passing on a Bitcoin position, not around using Bitcoin as a day-to-day payment rail. For holders whose Bitcoin life includes meaningful payment activity, Strike is the better fit for that part of it, and the two products can be used together.

Custody: Self-Custody Encouragement vs Multi-Institution Custody as a Service

The two platforms take different approaches to custody risk, and the difference is philosophical.

Strike is a single-custodian platform. Customer Bitcoin is held by Strike until the holder withdraws it. Strike's answer to single-custodian risk is to encourage holders to move Bitcoin off the platform into their own self-custody wallet, including through an auto-withdraw feature that automatically pushes accumulated Bitcoin to a wallet the holder controls. This is a legitimate and Bitcoin-native answer: the platform is a buying and payments rail, and long-term holdings belong in self-custody. The tradeoff is that it puts the operational responsibility of self-custody (hardware, seed phrases, recovery, inheritance) on the holder.

Onramp's answer to single-custodian risk is different: Multi-Institution Custody as a service. At the free Onramp Finance tier, custody is held by BitGo Trust, a regulated qualified custodian, with Lloyd's of London insurance. Through Onramp Core, clients access Multi-Institution Custody, where three independent regulated institutions (Onramp, BitGo Trust, and CoinCover) each hold one key in a 2-of-3 structure. Transactions are initiated from the client's Onramp account, and two of three institutions work at the client's direction to execute. No single institution, including Onramp itself, can move client Bitcoin unilaterally. The client holds no keys and bears no key-management burden. Core also carries Lloyd's of London coverage up to $100 million per incident and real-time Proof of Reserves at the individual vault level.

The distinction is meaningful. Strike says: use us to buy and transact, then hold your Bitcoin yourself. Onramp says: hold your Bitcoin with us in a structure where no single institution can fail catastrophically, without the operational burden of self-custody. For holders who want the security benefits of distributed custody without becoming their own bank, Onramp's model is the more direct answer. For holders who prefer to self-custody their long-term position, Strike's auto-withdraw model supports that path.

Fees, Loans, and the Comprehensive Platform Argument

Brokerage and DCA. Strike offers highly competitive DCA pricing with low fees on recurring purchases, and for pure dollar-cost-averaging Strike is typically cheaper than Onramp Finance's 0.85% Finance-tier brokerage. Onramp's brokerage drops to 0.65% at Core and 0.32% at Private. But the fee comparison is only part of the picture, because Onramp Finance is built to grow a Bitcoin position across more surfaces than buying alone.

Bitcoin-backed loans. This is a point of genuine overlap, and both products are now structurally similar. Strike's loans are centralized with no rehypothecation, tiered APR (roughly 7.49% to 10.5% by size), backed by a Tether-supported credit facility, with quarterly lending Proof of Reserves. Onramp Finance's loans through Arch Lending are also centralized with no rehypothecation, with up to 50% loan-to-value, fixed APR for the term, and an optional deferred interest payment structure. The main difference is the counterparty: Strike's loans run through a Tether-supported credit facility, while Onramp's loans run through its Arch Lending partnership, where Arch is the lender and holds the Bitcoin collateral with Anchorage, a regulated qualified custodian. Both are centralized, no-rehypothecation products, and on the loan product specifically the two are closely comparable. The broader difference is the platform around the loan: Onramp adds the earn account, the Onramp Card, an optional Bitcoin IRA, the Onramp Terminal, and an upgrade path to Multi-Institution Custody for the main Bitcoin position.

The earn account and the Onramp Card. Strike does not offer an earn account with rewards or a Bitcoin cash-back card comparable to Onramp's. Onramp Finance pays up to 3% Onramp-funded rewards (scaling to 4% at Core, 5% at Private) and 0.5% Bitcoin cash-back on the Onramp Card (scaling to 1% at Core, 1.5% at Private). Those are ongoing accumulation surfaces Strike does not match.

The fuller picture. Onramp Finance is built to grow a Bitcoin position across multiple surfaces, including brokerage, earn, the Onramp Card, Arch loans, an optional IRA, the Onramp Terminal research, and the upgrade path into Multi-Institution Custody. Strike is optimized for payments, Lightning, remittances, and efficient accumulation. The two platforms are not competing on the same surface area.

Financial Services: IRA, Inheritance, Research

Bitcoin IRA. Strike does not offer a Bitcoin IRA. Onramp offers Bitcoin IRAs in Traditional, Roth, SEP, and Solo 401(k) structures: as a $100/month add-on at the free Finance tier (custodied at BitGo Trust), or included in the monthly fee at Onramp Core (custodied using Multi-Institution Custody). Onramp Core is the only platform combining a tax-advantaged Bitcoin retirement account with Multi-Institution Custody architecture.

Inheritance planning. Strike does not offer integrated inheritance planning. Bitcoin held on Strike passes through the account holder's estate, and Bitcoin auto-withdrawn to self-custody passes according to whatever inheritance plan the holder has set up for their own wallet, which requires heirs to be able to manage keys. Onramp Core includes integrated inheritance planning where you designate a beneficiary at account setup and the heir presents a death certificate at the time of transfer, with the Multi-Institution Custody architecture operating in the background and no hardware wallets or seed phrases for the heir to learn.

Research and data. Strike does not offer a research and data platform. Onramp Finance includes the Onramp Terminal at no additional cost: a Bitcoin-only research and data platform with thousands of interactive charts covering on-chain metrics, macro overlays, miner economics, ETF flows, and derivatives positioning. For holders who track Bitcoin actively, the Terminal replaces a separate paid data subscription.

When to Choose Each

Strike is the right answer for holders whose Bitcoin activity is payments-centric. If you send money internationally over Lightning, pay merchants in Bitcoin, use Bitcoin actively as a medium of exchange, or want the most efficient low-fee DCA on-ramp with a clean path to self-custody, Strike is the more native platform. The Send Globally remittance product and the Lightning integration are genuinely best-in-class.

Onramp Finance is the right answer for holders who want to hold and grow a Bitcoin position on a comprehensive wealth platform. The free Finance tier consolidates brokerage, an earn account, the Onramp Card with Bitcoin cash-back, Bitcoin-backed loans through Arch Lending, an optional Bitcoin IRA, the Onramp Terminal research platform, and qualified-custodian custody on a single platform, with a defined upgrade path to Multi-Institution Custody at Onramp Core when the position warrants it. For holders who want institutional-grade custody without becoming their own bank, and who want inheritance planning that does not require heirs to manage keys, Onramp is the more comprehensive platform.

For many holders, the two products are not mutually exclusive. Using Strike for Bitcoin payments, Lightning, and remittances while holding and growing the bulk of a serious Bitcoin position at Onramp Finance (and upgrading into Onramp Core) is a reasonable pattern. Each platform serves a part of the Bitcoin life the other does not.

For Onramp's broader framework on Bitcoin custody architecture, see The Proof of Reserves Illusion. For a head-to-head between Onramp Core and spot Bitcoin ETFs, see Onramp vs Bitcoin ETFs.