PayPal, an American online payments service provider, is denying to offer ts services to deserving and potent markets including the State of Palestine, Ghana, Monaco, Ivory Coast, and many more. The lack of a reliable payment network in these regions are slowing the growth of various industries, particularly the technology market.
PaypPal and Palestinians have had a long history of disputes and conflicts as the local people, businesses, investors, and startups have requested the financial company on several occasions to resume its operations in the region. US-based campaign group called Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy and other local campaign groups, politicians, and businesses submitted open letters to convince PayPal President and CEO Daniel Schulman to resume its operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
The Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE) organization emphasized in its open letter that the termination of PayPal services for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza has significantly limited and slowed the growth of the Palestinian technology sector, which accounts for a large section of the region’s economy.
“We are writing to urge you to extend PayPal’s services to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza thereby removing a major limitation on the Palestinian technology sector, one of the only bright spots in the overall economy. More importantly, extending PayPal services would resolve the current discriminatory situation whereby PayPal’s payment portal can be accessed freely by Israeli settlers living illegally (per international humanitarian law) in the West Bank while it remains unavailable to the occupied Palestinian population,” wrote A4VPE,
PayPal responded to the open letter and other ongoing campaigns but is still continuing to terminate its services in various regions that are in serious need for reliable financial services. Their response entailed the company’s necessity of securing various partnerships and establishing compliance needs to fully operate in the region.
“PayPal told Motherboard, “We appreciate the interest that the Palestinian community has shown in PayPal. While we do not have anything to announce for the immediate future, we continuously work to develop strategic partnerships, address business feasibility, regulatory, and compliance needs and requirements, and acquire the necessary local authority permissions for new market entries,” PayPal told Motherboard.
The absence of PayPal and other financial networks in such regions opens a large demanding market for Bitcoin. As a decentralized financial network, it will serve Palestinian businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs with secure yet cost-efficient financial services that offers a significant advantage over mainstream financial services.
With reliable Bitcoin infrastructure in place, such as exchanges and wallet services, the Palestinian market could be a potential opening for Bitcoin’s mainstream success.
