There’s been an ongoing story with Gab and its struggle to find a payment processor that would accept them. A while back we reported that the Cash App from Square continues to block out all Gab related accounts. There seems to be good news today from an announcement email that Gab sent out.
As many of you know the online censorship war has taken an even more extreme turn over the past several months. Not only are hundreds of thousands of people being banned and punished for political opinions on major social networks, but now many influential alternative media personalities and companies are being blacklisted and banned by payment gateways, processors, and even banks. This includes Gab, which has been banned by the payment processors Paypal, Stripe, Square, Coinbase, and Bitpay.
As of now Bitcoin might be their only solution. Bitcoin is free speech money. No bank, no corporation, and no government can stop you from sending or receiving bitcoin. Bitcoin can not be censored by anyone. Instead of putting your trust in a bank or government, both of which can fail at anytime as we’ve seen in Venezuela, with Bitcoin you are trusting a digital store of value that is backed by math and a decentralized network of “miners” who confirm the legitimacy of transactions.
When it comes down to Bitcoin, most people talk about the “crazy market”, but the truth is that blockchain and Bitcoin goes beyond just a “market price.”
From the email, starting today Gab.com is accepting Bitcoin for its optional GabPro service. You can upgrade to GabPro from your profile menu in the top right-hand corner at anytime.
GabPro offers additional features such as the ability to apply for verification, lists, bookmarking, and more. Gab does not have ads or collect mass amounts of data like other social networks. GabPro and your support will help the company keep it that way.
In addition to traditional Bitcoin payments, Gab also went ahead and said that they are open to accepting checks and money orders. Gab’s woes with payment processors are the canary in the coal mine for free speech online.
The company ended the email with, “The future of free speech on the internet depends on it.”
This is considered to be a huge stepping stone for the crypto and blockchain community. We’re all rooting secretly for Gab in the backscene!
