Coinbase Censors Social Media Platform Gab Terminates Founders Accounts
Coinbase has dealt Gab a big blow by delisting the popular anti-censorship social network from the exchange. Gab team has already confirmed that the world’s largest exchange has shut down CEO, Andrew Torba, accounts in the exchange.
Coinbase De-platform Gab
The closure affirms initial concerns that crypto exchanges would move forth and censor not only companies but also accounts of anti-censorship platforms. Coinbase moving to end support for Gab follows similar actions taken by mainstream payment services MasterCard and PayPal.
The two giant payment services have shut down the accounts of controversial political commentators as part of an ongoing censorship. The actions have also targeted content creators. The action seeks to put pressure on anti-censorship platforms to disassociate themselves from certain individuals if they are to continue enjoying support.
Dr. Jordan Paterson has already had his Patreon account delisted after revealing he transacted as much as $80,000 through his account. The censorship drive has already triggered outrage as the likes of Gab continue to raise the red flag over government’s involvement.
Censorship in the financial sector has once again highlighted the need for a decentralized systems in the financial sector. According to Gab, increased censorship will force most people to switch attention to cryptocurrencies whose transactions are hard to trace.
“Decentralized exchanges are the future. The next phase of financial censorship as people move to Bitcoin is censoring the on ramps and off ramps (exchanges.) This will force and incentivize people to not use those ramps and instead only use Bitcoin for all things. Keep censoring. It will only push people to Bitcoin,” Gab in a statement.
Square Cryptocurrency Edge
Coinbase shutting down the accounts of Gab raises questions about the motive. Initial reports indicated possible government involvement in the actions taken by the crypto exchange. However, Square another payment giant has continued to offer Bitcoin support for Gab.
If indeed the government had a hand in the matter then Square would also have ended support of Gab. Square’s bid to focus on cryptocurrencies while avoiding censorship controversies has allowed it to accrue an edge in the cryptocurrency space.
According to Dr. Peterson who is a clinical psychologist in Canada, a move by Coinbase to censor Gab an unpopular action. For starters, the exchange handles cryptocurrencies whose main purpose is to circumvent centralized systems of payments. The actions according to the doctor contradict the true value of digital coins, which is to enable transparent and decentralized financial networks.