Tom Grundy, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) has recently slammed cryptocurrency payment processor BitPay over blocked bitcoin donations.
According to Grundy’s tweets, the cryptocurrency payments processor has been blocking donations to the crowdfunded media outlet for three weeks, without properly working with the Hong Kong Free Press to resolve the issue and let it access the funds its supporters sent in.
Grundy noted that the media organization has received a total of HK $14,800 ($1,900) in bitcoin since it added cryptocurrency donations back in 2015, but has now had to halt crypto donations as they weren’t getting to their destination.
BIG THANKS to HKFP's supporters who donated HK$14,817 in Bitcoin since 2015.
However, cryto donations are temporarily suspended as @BitPay has refused to transfer @hongkongfp's donations for 3 weeks without good reason. @spair @BitPaySupport pic.twitter.com/gz6AdozcNe
— Tom Grundy (@tomgrundy) September 11, 2019
In a follow-up tweet, Grundy advised his followers to “never use BitPay” as the company ended up blocking its crypto donations “simply because HK banks use SWIFT not IBANs,” and the experience the HKFP had with it was “the worst … you can imagine.”
Per the HKFP founder the fees being paid were high, while BitPay’s communication was “abysmal” and the customer service was “horrible.” He finished by saying he was ready to “go to war with publicity and legal action” against BitPay.
BitPay has, as covered, been facing several publicity nightmares in the last few months, as whenever it fails to process cryptocurrency payments the community starts suggesting alternatives and its reputation is damaged. Earlier this year Chess.com revealed the firm’s know your customer and anti-money laundering checks saw “about 100” payments fail.
Last month, a $100,000 bitcoin donation to a non-profit environmental organization working to protect the Amazon rainforest was also blocked by BitPay for being “too high,” according to the organization itself.
