Stripe, a San Francisco, Calif.-based mobile payments startup that allows merchants to accept bitcoin, has announced that its Stripe Atlas service will be available to businesses in Cuba in conjunction with President Obama’s trip to Havana this week. Stripe users, including Atlas, can accept bitcoin along with credit cards, Android Pay, Alipay and 135 currencies. Stripe Atlas will allow Cubans to establish online businesses.
Stripe Atlas will give Cuban entrepreneurs access to an incorporated U.S. business entity, a U.S. bank account for the newly-created entity, and a Stripe account to receive payments from customers worldwide. No Internet Infrastructure
The offering is designed to allow Cubans to have an Internet-based business in a country that has almost no infrastructure to support such a business. Cuba’s Internet penetration stands at 4% of the population, among the lowest in the world. Few people own credit cards, so Cubans can’t pay or get paid online. Despite these challenges, more than 70% of Cubans surveyed recently said they wanted to start their own business.
One of the most significant components of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba is the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s restrictions on access to financial services by Cuban nationals, according to Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe. On Tuesday, these were some of the first restrictions to be relaxed by the White House. “This removes one of the biggest impediments to Cubans participating in the global financial system,” Collison noted on his blog . Obama Lifts Some Restrictions
Stripe Atlas’ expansion to Cuba benefited from rule changes announced earlier this week by the Obama Administration. The new regulations allow U.S. banks to open accounts for Cuban nationals living in Cuba.
“Today’s announcement and our work with President Obama here in Havana are about facilitating a smooth path for Cuban entrepreneurs into the modern […]
