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PayPal may be feriendler to digital currencies, but that doesn’t mean it’s giving everyone a free pass. According to reports, the payments giant has terminated the account for domain registrar Epik, known for serving right-wing havens like Gab and the Proud boys, over financial risk issues. It didn’t outline what those risks were, but sources understood it had to do with the legality of Epik’s Masterbucks “alternative currency.”
Epik reportedly hadn’t taken the appropriate steps to legally offer Masterbucks, which lets users pay for services both within Epik’s network and from partners. Moreover, the company was allegedly promoting tax evasion by touting the “tax advantages” of pouring money into the digital format. PayPal told Epik about these issues “over a month ago” and tried to cooperate on a solution, according to the source, but the two don’t appear to have come to an agreement.
Epik is unsurprisingly angry. Senior strategy and communications VP Robert Davis claimed that PayPal asked about issues that were supposedly “outside of any knowledge or experience” of Epik’s position as a domain registrar, such as money transmission licenses. Davis also accused PayPal of trying to “silence conservative voices” just ahead of the 2020 presidential election, echoing longstanding, often disputed claims from right-wing politicians and activists.
Not that Epik might have much recourse either way. If the leak is accurate, the company was offering an illegal currency despite warnings. That’s all the reason PayPal would need to sever ties, regardless of an account holder’s political leanings.
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