I've been permanently banned from using PayPal and Venmo since 2020. This can happen to anyone. Have you considered what you would do if you got blacklisted from traditional banking and payment systems because of your professional involvement with crypto?

Things like integrating Venmo as a "zero-knowledge"onramp trigger a particular rebellious streak in me because they sell themselves as a solution, but that solution clearly isn't going to work for me.

I wasn't banned from PayPal because of crypto. I operated an ancillary cannabis business in the US. Ancillary means we didn't require a special state-level license because we didn't handle any plant material. We provided genetic diagnostic laboratory services via mail-order DNA collection kits. The only thing we handled was DNA samples (doesn't contain any regulated materials such as THC) - but PayPal's stance was that we were the equivalent of being accountants for the mob.

Our merchant account had been active for over two years and PayPal even gave us a working capital loan based on our existing revenue. Then, when we reapplied for a second loan after paying back the first, our payment processing was halted without warning and PayPal held pending sales revenue for months after that. So, instead of a loan we ended up with a hole in our balance sheet until they finally gave us our money back. Meanwhile, we still had to fulfill shipping orders and provide lab services for the customers whose payments were frozen.

They even had the gall to charge my personal account a fee after they had closed it, then sent that unpaid fee balance to collections (which is how I first found out they charged me that fee). I was also notified that my SSN was permanently banned from both services (PayPal owns Venmo) because I was the primary contact on our merchant and bank accounts. I get to awkwardly relive this story by pretending it's a badge of honor every time I go out to dinner with friends.

We never truly recovered from this, although it was just the first in a series of challenges that led to us closing the lab in 2022 after over 5 years in operation & 25+ employees. Luckily, I had already started working in DAOs and evaluating solutions to the lack of data liquidity that underlies the tension between public and private scientific research. It's been a pretty rough career transition going from PhD lab scientist -> startup CEO/CTO -> largely unemployable DAO contributor (yay for highly specialized generalists); but the journey is simply unfolding one intuitive step at a time.

I'm not alone. The cannabis industry (especially traditional markets with zero or varying levels of grey area state-level regulatory frameworks) is ripe for innovation via crypto money systems, privacy, and identity tech. PayPal has become notorious for shutting down ancillary cannabis business accounts without warning since this happened to us.

With better consumer facing UX finally coming into play - it has become my life mission to research and implement these solutions starting with my corner of the cannabis industry: science -> via OpenCann and Hyperfiles.

Centralized onramps are a necessary evil, for now. I'm all in on crypto because of the freedom that true meritocracy and radical transparency provide. The former is an emergent property of the latter, by the way.

"Contracts are not for when things are going well."

Ain't that the fucking truth.

The same is true for decentralization. It's easy to underestimate the value of it in happy times.

Good thing we're building trustless, permissionless, and publicly verifiable smart contract infrastructure. Right?

Also:

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

Proceeds from collectors of this post go to the BanklessDAO Community Treasury: Bankless DAO: Treasury | Address 0xf26d1Bb347a59F6C283C53156519cC1B1ABacA51 | Etherscan

I've been permanently banned from using PayPal and Venmo since 2020. This can happen to anyone. Have you considered what you would do if you got blacklisted from traditional banking and payment systems because of your professional involvement with crypto?

Things like integrating Venmo as a "zero-knowledge"onramp trigger a particular rebellious streak in me because they sell themselves as a solution, but that solution clearly isn't going to work for me.

I wasn't banned from PayPal because of crypto. I operated an ancillary cannabis business in the US. Ancillary means we didn't require a special state-level license because we didn't handle any plant material. We provided genetic diagnostic laboratory services via mail-order DNA collection kits. The only thing we handled was DNA samples (doesn't contain any regulated materials such as THC) - but PayPal's stance was that we were the equivalent of being accountants for the mob.

Our merchant account had been active for over two years and PayPal even gave us a working capital loan based on our existing revenue. Then, when we reapplied for a second loan after paying back the first, our payment processing was halted without warning and PayPal held pending sales revenue for months after that. So, instead of a loan we ended up with a hole in our balance sheet until they finally gave us our money back. Meanwhile, we still had to fulfill shipping orders and provide lab services for the customers whose payments were frozen.

They even had the gall to charge my personal account a fee after they had closed it, then sent that unpaid fee balance to collections (which is how I first found out they charged me that fee). I was also notified that my SSN was permanently banned from both services (PayPal owns Venmo) because I was the primary contact on our merchant and bank accounts. I get to awkwardly relive this story by pretending it's a badge of honor every time I go out to dinner with friends.

We never truly recovered from this, although it was just the first in a series of challenges that led to us closing the lab in 2022 after over 5 years in operation & 25+ employees. Luckily, I had already started working in DAOs and evaluating solutions to the lack of data liquidity that underlies the tension between public and private scientific research. It's been a pretty rough career transition going from PhD lab scientist -> startup CEO/CTO -> largely unemployable DAO contributor (yay for highly specialized generalists); but the journey is simply unfolding one intuitive step at a time.

I'm not alone. The cannabis industry (especially traditional markets with zero or varying levels of grey area state-level regulatory frameworks) is ripe for innovation via crypto money systems, privacy, and identity tech. PayPal has become notorious for shutting down ancillary cannabis business accounts without warning since this happened to us.

With better consumer facing UX finally coming into play - it has become my life mission to research and implement these solutions starting with my corner of the cannabis industry: science -> via OpenCann and Hyperfiles.

Centralized onramps are a necessary evil, for now. I'm all in on crypto because of the freedom that true meritocracy and radical transparency provide. The former is an emergent property of the latter, by the way.

"Contracts are not for when things are going well."

Ain't that the fucking truth.

The same is true for decentralization. It's easy to underestimate the value of it in happy times.

Good thing we're building trustless, permissionless, and publicly verifiable smart contract infrastructure. Right?

Also:

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

Proceeds from collectors of this post go to the BanklessDAO Community Treasury: Bankless DAO: Treasury | Address 0xf26d1Bb347a59F6C283C53156519cC1B1ABacA51 | Etherscan