Atlas and Cuba - Hackdot

Re:Atlas and Cuba by adolfojp on Friday March 18, 2016 @03:53PM (#11314432)

A few months ago I inquired about using Stripe from Puerto Rico, a US territory for over 100 years, and was told that it wasn't available in the unincorporated territories yet.

https://support.stripe.com/questions/can-i-use-stripe-if-my-...

And now I see Stripe getting friendly with Cuba.

I don't have a clear point to make, as I'm writing this while still upset, but I just felt like I had to get my word out there perhaps to get some perspective or perhaps to start a discussion.

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Re:Atlas and Cuba by edwinwee on Friday March 18, 2016 @04:13PM (#11314570)

Hi, I work at Stripe. We are actually now able to support Puerto Rican businesses. (We need to update that support page!) Shoot me an email at [email protected] and we can get you set up.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Atlas and Cuba by hiphipjorge on Friday March 18, 2016 @09:46PM (#11316783)

Was there actually a good reason for this?

The limitation seems completely arbitrary or stems for a misunderstanding about the difference between a state and a territory. For better or for worse, Puerto Rico is virtually a state (with residents who can't vote for the president with some minor other caveats), but legally there shouldn't be any difference.

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Re:Atlas and Cuba by reis4g on Saturday March 19, 2016 @02:06AM (#11317539)

I'm Cuban and I'm all for your cause! I can be as upset as you are.

It's great to hear Stripe has solved it but remains a mistery WHY Atlas wasn't available for Puerto Rico long time ago? What's the deal? But then again @adolfojp, Puerto Rico, as we all know is US territory for the good of US, no matter Puerto Ricans, right?

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Re:Atlas and Cuba by kesselvon on Friday March 18, 2016 @08:56PM (#11316590)

That's because Cuba is all media hype, very few deals have actually been done and the Cuban government hasn't shown any signs of allowing greater economic freedom. Most Cubans don't even have internet as of now

Clever media play by stripe though

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Re:Atlas and Cuba by reis4g on Friday March 18, 2016 @11:55PM (#11317218)

(I'm a Cuban entrepreneur) Everything-Cuba has been always media-hype. I believe, in part, due to the poor understanding and information out there about the country. All in all, if you compare, the Cuban government has been actually opening up and allowing much more economic freedom now than it did for many years, and I believe they will continue doing so, as it's in their best interest as well as that of the cuban people. If by "greater" you mean neo-liberalism or alike, I don't think we would do that, but who knows, shit happens.

Stripe's move is clever but not because of the "media play" only ... they are doing the best thing an US business can do regarding an opening Cuba right now, they will see tons of cuban businesses applying right away, and I bet a very high cash-flow, what's not to like?

Also, I can vouch for Merchise Startups (the guys Stripe are partnering with), and they know their ground, that's something you can say about (sadly) too few people in Cuba, regarding business, entrepreneurship and startups anyway. So the move gets clever by the minute...

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