Bitcoin (BTC) has come a long way from being used to buy coffee or a burger. 

Now, it is slowly making its way into much bigger parts of everyday life, including mortgage payments.

A major regulatory approval in New York is helping push that shift forward.

Strike, a Bitcoin-based payments platform, has received both a BitLicense and a money transmitter license from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), allowing the company to legally operate in one of the most tightly regulated crypto markets in the United States.

Related: Strike CEO has a harsh response to Elon Musk's gold thesis

The approval marks a significant milestone for Strike and its founder and CEO, Jack Mallers.

“With our BitLicense, we can now bring that mission to New York, the global center of finance,” Mallers said after the announcement.

A BitLicense is a special permit issued by NYDFS that allows companies to conduct virtual currency business with New York residents. Introduced in 2015, the license is required for firms offering services such as exchanging, storing, or transferring digital assets.

By obtaining the license, Strike can now provide its services to individuals and businesses across the state.

Strike is a payments app built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, a technology designed to make Bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper. Through the app, users can send and receive money instantly, convert dollars into Bitcoin, and pay bills directly from their crypto balances.

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Bitcoin payments have historically been associated with small purchases like coffee, online services, or tipping creators. But the expansion of crypto financial services is gradually pushing Bitcoin into more serious financial use cases.

With the regulatory green light in New York, Strike users will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin, receive salary deposits converted into Bitcoin and make bill payments directly from their Bitcoin balances.

That means homeowners could potentially use Bitcoin holdings to help pay recurring expenses such as mortgage payments.

The approval also follows Strike’s broader expansion plans announced in November 2025. At the time, Mallers revealed that the platform planned to introduce Bitcoin-backed lending, allowing users to borrow traditional currency while keeping their Bitcoin holdings.

However, Strike is not the first to bring crypto closer to mortgage payments. Several companies in the United States already allow users to use digital assets to pay for home loans or access mortgage-related services.

Crypto payment processor BitPay, for example, enables users to pay mortgages through its Bill Pay service by converting cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and stablecoins into U.S. dollars before sending the payment to lenders. Digital asset platform Bakkt also offers tools that allow users to convert crypto holdings into cash to pay bills, including mortgage payments and utilities.

Meanwhile, crypto lender Milo has taken a different approach by offering mortgages backed by Bitcoin. It allows borrowers to use their crypto holdings as collateral rather than selling them.

Even large exchanges like Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) indirectly support mortgage payments by enabling users to convert crypto into U.S. dollars and transfer the funds to mortgage servicers through bank payments.

In most cases, however, lenders still receive payments in traditional currency, as crypto is typically converted into U.S. dollars before the transaction is processed.

Related: Moon Mortgage announces beta for trade-and-borrow crypto loan product

Strike’s platform now offers a range of tools designed to make Bitcoin easier to integrate into personal finance. Users can set up recurring Bitcoin purchases, place automated trades triggered by price movements and convert up to 100% of their direct-deposited wages into Bitcoin.

The platform also waives conversion fees on deposits up to $20,000 per month.

Strike said that customer balances, both Bitcoin and cash, are held one-to-one and are not lent out or used for company operations, a model intended to reassure users after the failures of several crypto lenders in recent years.

Related: Strike CEO says proof of reserves lending is 'gonna change the world’

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Mar 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the REAL ESTATE section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.