Pro-Bitcoin Gab Founder Loses Coinbase Account, Calls For DEXs

Gab.com, an up-and-coming social media platform that advocates for free speech is by no means, ironically enough, a stranger to financial censorship. Last year, Paypal, the world-renowned, yet sometimes controversial payment processor, banned Gab’s company account, cutting off one of the startup’s pertinent financial mediums.

Coinbase also banned the American firm’s Commerce account as well, disallowing Gab to receive Bitcoin (BTC), and other supported cryptocurrencies as payment. Bitpay, the popular payment processor, had also refused to offer Gab service, with a company statement reading, “the nature of your organization presents higher risks and we are no longer able to provide you our merchant processing service.”

Now, just months after the original bout of censorship, the social media company, which sports over 100,000 Twitter followers, has claimed that its founder and chief executive, Andrew Torba, has lost his personal Coinbase account. The firm’s social media manager wrote:

As predicted: the on ramps and off ramps (exchanges) are going to start censoring not only companies, but also individuals.

Per the image attached to the tweet, Coinbase did not mention specific reasoning for the closure of Torba’s account. Interestingly, the startup allowed the Gab founder to withdraw his cryptocurrency holdings and U.S. dollar balance to external accounts. Still, the bottom line is that he was banned, without an overt reason.

But if history is any indicator, Coinbase’s top brass likely decided to purge the account as Gab hosts an array of unpopular, contrasting, and sometimes inflammatory opinions. Still, crypto’s modus operandi is to be censorship-resistant, making this move controversial on Coinbase’s end. Because funny enough, Coinbase’s underlying mission is to create an open financial system for the world.

Decentralized Exchanges Are The Future

Bisq, a leading decentralized exchange for cryptocurrencies and fiat, took this opportunity to bash centralized exchanges, accentuating the fact that Bitcoin should allow users to “be their own bank,” Bisq claimed as Bitcoin promotes financial freedom, its platform allows users to become their own exchange, as trades can be done peer-to-peer, without censorship or any centralized shortcomings.

If Bitcoin allows you to "be your own bank," Bisq allows you to "be your own exchange." YOU run Bisq on YOUR own machine and trade bitcoin P2P. Censorship-resistance by design, not policy. Gatekeepers have no business being in bitcoin. Let's shun them! https://t.co/DMG9vAFZXm — Bisq (@bisq_network) January 5, 2019

Ran NeuNer claimed that this ban is “too similar to the current banking system,” joking that Coinbase’s intent to create a new financial system backfired. Bitlord, an Australian cryptocurrency commentator, noted that this ban was “disgraceful,” especially due Brian Armstrong’s plan to create a free world.

So, others took the opportunity to claim that decentralized exchanges will eventually overtake centralizes on-ramps, especially as cases like the aforementioned continue to propagate.

Title Image Courtesy of Glenn Carstens Peters Via Unsplash