Coinbase Reportedly Bans Personal Account of Social Media Platform Gab Founder

The personal Coinbase merchant account of Andrew Torba, social media platform Gab’s founder, has been terminated, the official Gab.com account tweeted on Jan. 4.

As blockchain blog Breaker reported earlier, Gab’s business account on Coinbase was allegedly closed in December. The news source put forward that a possible reason why it is hard for Gab to obtain a payment processor is its reputation for being the social network for people banned from mainstream platforms for hate speech.

In October, the New York Times mentioned Gab as a social network used by the shooter in Pittsburgh to post a final message before he attacked a synagogue. After the shooting, Torba stated that the Pittsburgh shooter did not represent the broader user base of the social media site.

Gab describes itself on its website as a “social network that champions free speech, individual liberty and the free flow of information online. All are welcome.”

As Cointelegraph wrote in April, the Coinbase merchant account merchandise shop of the anonymous international publishing nonprofit WikiLeaks had also been closed due to a terms of service violation.

In December 2017, WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange, had urged donors to contribute to the online publication by using cryptocurrencies in order to skirt the so-dubbed financial blockade by national governments.

This past December, major American magazine Time reported about Bitcoin’s liberating potential, suggesting that it can ensure economic flow outside of oppressive government’s reach.

The author of the Time article claims that “speculation, fraud, and greed in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry have overshadowed the real, liberating potential of Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention.”

Moreover, American whistleblower Edward Snowden said in March that the world needs a better option than Bitcoin to avoid government coercion, at the same time reiterating his support for ZCash as the most interesting altcoin due to its privacy setup.