This is why the Supreme Court will tell Colorado to put Trump on the ballot. And just the opposite for keeping foreigners (i.e. illegal aliens), out of the U.S. We (used to) have rules for this sort of thing.

Fred Fagal: Thanks to you and all the others who read this essay and decided to donate also. The February campaign up until now had been a little lackluster, though acceptable. Now it is doing great!

First, we have crypto-related payment systems. That’s a big topic in itself, but I won’t say much here beyond pointing out that the security model is radically different from what came before, the amount of freedom you get from de-platforming is up to users implementing their own security, and it will take time for such habits to become mainstream.

Second, we have the Paypal types, with Samsung/Apple pay, Venmo, CashApp, and Chime among them. These are basically credit card or debit card-like processors who simply replaced the plastic card with a phone or web app. Like credit cards, their security model is dependent on vetting merchant accounts. If the merchant account vetting is fairly strict (like Apple/Samsung) the only real difference is whether a phone is more convenient than a card (maybe, but it is certainly less reliable) or more secure (with chip card readers now ubiquitous, not the case anymore). The others, borrowing the growth-at-all-costs strategy from Paypal’s early days, allow most or all accounts to receive money by default and do little vetting. This makes them rife with fraud and they either have to play wack-a-mole, as PayPal does, or just look the other way, as Chime and CashApp (famously) do. In the whack-a-mole game, suspicion is subjective and subject to the biases of key players who insert their petty prejudices into the process. In the look-the-other-way game, you have to buy off regulators to look the other way, and de-platforming policies conform to the prejudices of the government class.

Third, we have check-like payment systems, like Zelle, ACH, and, well, mailing checks. The security model here is based on banks’ retail presence and, for actual checks, there are some security features in the paper. An important difference is that banks make their money by paying low interest on deposits, and not exclusively on transaction fees, so they have more to lose by frivolously de-platforming a customer due to a politically unfavored *payment* transaction. Many banks work in local markets so they can’t replace de-platformed depositors with Si-Valley style growth.

Looking across the situation, I would say that the de-platforming suckage of the card-processors is mostly baked into their security model, so switching from PayPal to, for example, Apple Pay, isn’t going bring lasting relief. Gab’s “Parallel” card now uses MasterCard rails so the jury is still out if those guys can fend off the de-platforming mob; I am surprised they made it this far, so who knows? Zelle is probably a bit more resistant, especially if you are using a local or regional bank. Supporting mailed-in checks is easy. And yeah, crypto is here to stay and you are going to have to learn to use it sooner or later. It won’t be a high percentage of your payments; due to fiat-conversion friction even crypto users will spend fiat first, according to Gresham’s Law. But every crypto payment you get will likely be one that would otherwise have been lost due to privacy or de-platforming issues. You don’t use your fire extinguisher much, either, but when you do, it sure is important.

Gee, whatta pal!

FJB
FPP

After inquiring with them about some other issue, Paypal obviously took a closer look then closed his account and said my son was banned from ever doing business from Paypal again. No explanation, no appeal. They held onto my son’s funds for more than 6 months. Fortunately, he didn’t leave much in the account. He was also working to move to a “standard” payment processor so the switch only took about a week. Still, he lost that week of sales.

My husband and I immediately closed our 25 year old Paypal account as did our daughter. My son’s business is doing better than ever with a 2A friendly payment processor and the rest of us are managing just fine without Paypal.

Paul Revere: Patreon’s fees are slightly less than Paypal, so if you want to use that, go to my Patreon page provided in the tip jar and pick the subscription or donation option of your preference.

As for Givesendgo, I have never even thought about it. I will take a look.

Andi: Fixed. Thank you!

Only Send Money to Friends, Family and Others You Trust
https://www.zellepay.com/security

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