BitPay no longer serving banned countries

[OmegaStarScream]

We all know that banning bitcoin doesn't mean much as there is no mechanism to know who is using it, especially If it's being done peer to peer but it seems like BitPay took action and as of a few days back, the people from the following countries:

Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal, and Vietnam.

Can no longer use BitPay.

So, If you're using a service that uses BitPay for accepting payments (Newegg, Shipito, etc.), you won't be able to do so anymore.

As said below, using a VPN would be a workaround, however you should make sure that it's fine by the service you're using. For example, Shipito has your address and knows the country you're from, you don't want to deposit money and then have it forzen.

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~

If you're using a service that uses BitPay for accepting payments, you won't be able to do so anymore.

Use VPN. It's an old news I think. You can not open their wallet if you are from any of these country however there are always a way out :-P

As I said, use VPN :-)

By the way, I do not like to use BitPay. I feel like it's following paypal business model.

[subSTRATA]

~snip~

If you're using a service that uses BitPay for accepting payments, you won't be able to do so anymore.

Use VPN. It's an old news I think. You can not open their wallet if you are from any of these country however there are always a way out :-P

As I said, use VPN :-)

By the way, I do not like to use BitPay. I feel like it's following paypal business model.

im assuming bitpay involves linking a bank account to use its services; that being said, it should be pretty difficult for the average user to bypass the service blocking bank account associated with those countries. if youre using it just as a wallet, which is what i assume is the extent of your use for it given your statement, you shouldnt really be limited too much with the use of a vpn.

[Slow death]

the people from the following countries:

Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal, and Vietnam.

Can no longer use BitPay.

there are things from the crypto world that are a very nasty joke and this is one of them:



this is on the bitpay site.


LocalBitcoins Imposes Restrictions on Iranian Accounts

Major peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange LocalBitcoins.com has banned users living in Iran, according to their website as of today, May 24.

I wonder what the next countries will be?

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~
im assuming bitpay involves linking a bank account to use its services; that being said, it should be pretty difficult for the average user to bypass the service blocking bank account associated with those countries. if youre using it just as a wallet, which is what i assume is the extent of your use for it given your statement, you shouldnt really be limited too much with the use of a vpn.

You mean for the merchants? Not sure about it however once I have used Bitpay to pay for my hosting and I did not require anything. I just downloaded their wallet. Sent the required BTC I needed to pay and then when I got the invoice link from the service I was buying I paid them using the link of BitPay.

But honestly speaking I did not like it. I had to send BTC from my account to BitPay then from BitPay to the service provider which was a hassle any way.

[LeGaulois]

Here you have to consider BitPay more like a payment processor than something else. And of course, all the things that come with. I'm not so surprised.
Yes you need a bank account if you're a merchant and yes it can be seen as useless to forbid some countries while it's difficult to make a bank account, not in your name.
The same goes for Paypal while there are several countries blacklisted there too.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

This sucks.  True, bitcoin can't be controlled....but it sort of can, and this is one example of how. 

I'm a very tech-illiterate guy, but I know what a VPN is and I've recently thought about using one in order to use services like ShapeShift, which doesn't let US residents use their service.  I have a feeling this BitPay thing is not going to be the end of it, either.

By the way, I do not like to use BitPay. I feel like it's following paypal business model.

Like it or not, sometimes you have no choice.

[mk4]

Though it's unfortunate for users who pay for services/products through BitPay, I personally couldn't care less. It's so much of a hassle to use BitPay due to the fact that there's no wallet address displayed and you'd have to manually sort of convert the QR code yourself. Hopefully better BTC payment processors gets created.

[LeGaulois]

@ETFbitcoin
The thing is, their main interest when using Bitpay is the bitcoins are converted into fiat and send to their bank... It may even be the only thing that interests them. Anything else they're not interested. Also regarding accounting, there is maybe less work to do, they don't have to report the trades, etc, you know, the usual boring papers.

Personally, I didn't know BTCpay but I am thinking about something. Someone can code the stuff to had API from exchanges, then when a sale is done the API send-trade-withdraw. Then he has his own BitPay alt

[Patatas]

I wonder why isn't my country on that list? Every country forbidden from using BitPay are the luckiest countries ever. They deserve a much better service to handle their bitcoin payments and not a broken shitty application like BitPay. 

[AmoreJaz]

I wonder why isn't my country on that list? Every country forbidden from using BitPay are the luckiest countries ever. They deserve a much better service to handle their bitcoin payments and not a broken shitty application like BitPay. 

but what other service are you talking about here? is there an alternative payment provider already existing on those mentioned countries?
sometimes you really have no choice using the BitPay service.

[TryNinja]

but what other service are you talking about here? is there an alternative payment provider already existing on those mentioned countries?
sometimes you really have no choice using the BitPay service.

There are many. E.g my fav one: https://btcpayserver.org/ - as said above (open source, free, you own the keys, no one can freeze your money, block you or ban countries, you can use the lightning network, etc..., and it WORKS EVERYWHERE regardless of your country).

We can all do our part to show these services that we prefer other (better) alternatives.

[DooMAD]

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  This is the natural order of things.  The weaker systems with a single point of failure will gradually become co-opted by the authorities and will subsequently be superseded by more resilient systems.  It's simple evolution.

[Patatas]

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  This is the natural order of things.  The weaker systems with a single point of failure will gradually become co-opted by the authorities and will subsequently be superseded by more resilient systems.  It's simple evolution.

Are you a history teacher or a philosophical bot? lol That statement is then most off-topic on-t6opic statement ever lol

but what other service are you talking about here? is there an alternative payment provider already existing on those mentioned countries?
sometimes you really have no choice using the BitPay service.

I don't know lol What I intended to say was, BitPay is a terrible service and no country should be forced to use it. That is, use the alternatives and not that buggy senseless piece of software.

[DooMAD]

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  This is the natural order of things.  The weaker systems with a single point of failure will gradually become co-opted by the authorities and will subsequently be superseded by more resilient systems.  It's simple evolution.

Are you a history teacher or a philosophical bot? lol That statement is then most off-topic on-t6opic statement ever lol

If my words are lost on you, the fault clearly lies with you.  I'm not shocked by this news.  This sort of thing is going to happen to other services too.  It will continue to happen until people realise that centralised systems are very easy for governments to manipulate.

[malevolent]

Anyone know what's their reasoning on banning these specific countries? Serving Iraqi users might be unnecessarily expensive from a compliance PoV with BitPay based in the US, but the rest I don't understand.

[PrimeNumber7]

ShapeShift, which doesn't let US residents use their service. 

This is not true. I have a ShapeShift account that I use as I wish, that is verified with my US address.

They even have a section in their TOS for CA residents:

G. California Residents. The provider of services is set forth herein. If you are a California resident, in accordance with Cal. Civ. Code §1789.3, you may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by contacting them in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112 Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210 or (916) 445-1254.

Anyone know what's their reasoning on banning these specific countries? Serving Iraqi users might be unnecessarily expensive from a compliance PoV with BitPay based in the US, but the rest I don't understand.

https://en.bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory#Alphabetical_index_to_classifications

I could not find anything for Bangladesh, but the rest of the countries appear to have banned bitcoin/cryptocurrencies in one way or another.
Indonesia has banned payment gateways from accepting bitcoin according to the above wiki article.

[malevolent]

I could not find anything for Bangladesh, but the rest of the countries appear to have banned bitcoin/cryptocurrencies in one way or another.
Indonesia has banned payment gateways from accepting bitcoin according to the above wiki article.

Yes but Localbitcoins doesn't need to make use of the legacy financial system of these countries to serve users there, they could easily ignore the law and let people transact at their own risk.

[DooMAD]

Yes but Localbitcoins doesn't need to make use of the legacy financial system of these countries to serve users there, they could easily ignore the law and let people transact at their own risk.

Yeah, Localbitcoins is the confusing one, having recently blocked users from Iran.  Would it be something to do with them technically qualifying as an escrow for all the trades there?  It wouldn't surprise me if part of the US sanctions against Iran included preventing companies from offering escrow services to Iranian residents.

[malevolent]

Yeah, Localbitcoins is the confusing one, having recently blocked users from Iran.  Would it be something to do with them technically qualifying as an escrow for all the trades there?  It wouldn't surprise me if part of the US sanctions against Iran included preventing companies from offering escrow services to Iranian residents.

That could be the reason, but I would have thought being based in the EU (and not using the US banking system) would be enough to be unaffected by US sanctions. Perhaps they have investors based in the US, or EU sanctions against Iran are strong enough to prevent them from servicing people from that country.