Payment Processor Checkout Drops Binance Over Money Laundering, Compliance Concerns (forbes.com) 10
Checkout.com, the London-based credit card processing company that ballooned its business model by servicing billions in crypto transactions for Binance clients, cut short its contract with the crypto giant this week, Forbes reported Friday. From the report: In a pair of letters sent to Binance on August 9 and 11, Checkout CEO Guillaume Pousaz terminated the company's relationship with its once-largest customer citing "reports of regulators actions and orders in relevant jurisdictions" and "inquiries from partners." The second letter, seen by Forbes and sent two days after the first, cited additional concerns over Binance's anti-money laundering, sanctions and compliance controls, and said the termination would be effective August 17. Checkout spokesperson Lewis Jones confirmed to Forbes the company had ended its contract with Binance.
In response, Binance told Forbes it disagreed with Checkout's basis for terminating the contract, and said it was considering legal action. "We have come a long way to building an industry-leading compliance program and we hope to build more trust with regulators and partners," spokesperson Dewi Mustajab said in a statement. He added that Checkout's withdrawal would have "no impact on our services."
In response, Binance told Forbes it disagreed with Checkout's basis for terminating the contract, and said it was considering legal action. "We have come a long way to building an industry-leading compliance program and we hope to build more trust with regulators and partners," spokesperson Dewi Mustajab said in a statement. He added that Checkout's withdrawal would have "no impact on our services."
Payment processors are the real cops of the net (Score:5, Insightful)
While I have little sympathy for crypto firms that allow criminals to use their service unchecked, it must be pointed out: payment processors have become the real gatekeepers of the internet.
They decide what segments of the adult industry are allowed, what sort of gambling, medicine, services, goods they allow their customers to deal with. If you can't get paid, you can't keep your site funded, so ultimately what is and isn't allowed on the internet is decided by the payment processors.
I can't imagine they enjoy this role, but it has become their roles anyway. What we also shouldn't forget is that these are corporations, beholden only to the almighty benefit of the owners and nothing else. The power that they wield is far greater than the scrutiny that they need to pass to make decision.
Granted, this doesn't affect you if you just want to buy or sell cat toys and handmade quilts, but go into anything more controversial or non-trivial, and you best read the ever-changing terms of service pages very carefully before you try and find a payment processor for your business..
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Re: Payment processors are the real cops of the ne (Score:2)
If only we had some currency that you could freely send without an approval process of corporate overlords....
Data point (Score:2)
There is precedent [wikipedia.org] for this sort of thing being in response to "soft pressure" from regulators. Given the wording "reports of regulators actions and orders in relevant jurisdictions", the conspiracy theorist part of me strongly suspects that is the case here as well.
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Insiders (Score:2)
Did all of the insiders dump their BNB (binance token) two days ago or so? I don't see any reference to the payment processor earlier than a few hours ago.
They wonâ(TM)t pursue legal action (Score:2)
Legal action means Binance will have to be transparent and crypto exchanges donâ(TM)t like to be transparent.