The Republic of Cuba was out of reach for many businesses in the Western world for decades until the United States decided to relax its trade embargo on the Caribbean nation. With the embargo gone, many companies are rushing to build trade relationships with the Latin-speaking nation.
Stripe, the online payments firm based out of United States has launched its services in Cuba. The company is offering payment processing service to the startups located in the country under its Stripe Active program. Even though the trade embargo is being removed, the company intends to make the process easier (or harder) for the companies looking for this service by helping them register a business entity in the United States.
One of the main requirements for Cuban businesses to accept payments over Stripe is by having a bank account in the United States. Once the company is registered in the United States and a linked bank account is created, the companies will be able to accept payments from across the world through their Stripe account.
Stripe’s service doesn’t come cheap either. In order to register for the service, companies have to pay a fee of $500. The company is working closely with the Cuban startup ecosystem to market its Stripe Active services.
The company has raised investments from big names in the industry. Andreessen Horowitz is one of the venture capital firm among them. Andreessen Horowitz is known for its investments in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The company has already started accepting bitcoin too. With Cuba already having a decent Bitcoin user base, we can expect Stripe to facilitate bitcoin payments along with fiat payments in the region.
Along with the international exposure that comes with being able to process payments from any place in the world, Stripe will also provide a way for bitcoin users to pay with digital currency for the stuff they buy over Stripe supported platforms.