<div dir="ltr">Someone in IRC #Sudoroom posted:<br>"does sudo still rely heavily on Gratipay?"<br><div> "if so <a href="https://medium.com/gratipay-blog/gratipocalypse-42fd0ec0d9e8">https://medium.com/gratipay-blog/gratipocalypse-42fd0ec0d9e8</a> is very relevant"<br><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Anyhow, a paste of the article (<font color="#444444"><span style="font-family:jaf-bernino-sans,'Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Sans',Geneva,Verdana,sans-serif;font-size:12px;letter-spacing:-0.239999994635582px;line-height:18px">Published </span><span class="" style="font-family:jaf-bernino-sans,'Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Sans',Geneva,Verdana,sans-serif;font-size:12px;letter-spacing:-0.239999994635582px;line-height:18px;white-space:nowrap!important"><span class="">on </span>May 7</span></font>):</div><div><br></div><div><div class=""><div class="" style="width:700px;margin:0px auto"><h2 name="53a5" id="53a5" class="" style="font-family:jaf-bernino-sans,'Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Sans',Geneva,Verdana,sans-serif;letter-spacing:-0.04em;font-size:60px;line-height:1;padding-top:0px;color:rgba(0,0,0,0.8);text-align:center">Gratipocalypse</h2></div></div><div class="" style="width:700px;margin:0px auto"><hr class="" style="height:0px;width:100px;margin:51px auto 41px;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;border-top-style:solid;border-top-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.14902)"></div><div class=""><div class="" style="width:700px;margin:0px auto"><p name="93e3" id="93e3" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 30px">Three weeks ago, we <a href="https://medium.com/gratipay-blog/balancedshutdown-3a9fdb32e9c6" class="" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">announced</a> that our payment processor, Balanced Payments, is going out of business. At the time, we said that, “we will have to change Gratipay in some yet-to-be-fully-understood fashion in order to survive the transition away from Balanced, and it will be hard.” We’re now beginning to understand the changes we have to make, and they couldn’t be harder.</p><p name="c40f" id="c40f" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 30px">Balanced is directing their customers to Stripe, and Stripe rejected us because they believe our model “<a href="https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3245#issuecomment-91112973" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">qualifies as money transmission</a>.” They followed up to specify <a href="https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3324#issuecomment-93562216" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">changes</a> we would need to make in order to use their service. These changes are drastic enough, but the suggestion that Gratipay might be regulated as a money transmitter is even more serious.</p><p name="8121" id="8121" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 30px">As soon as Stripe notified us of this possibility, we immediately began<a href="https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3321" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">researching the issue</a>, and we quickly <a href="https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/193" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">hired a lawyer</a> to help us understand our situation. Yesterday, we concluded that the concerns Stripe raised are real, and that therefore it would be both imprudent and immoral for us to continue processing payments as we have been. Unfortunately, we were unable to change course in time for this week’s payment cycle, and so, after 152 weeks of continuous operation, <strong class="">we are for the first time today skipping Gratipay’s weekly payment cycle</strong>.</p><p name="b81e" id="b81e" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 30px">Our intention is to quickly implement a <a href="https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/192" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">revised model</a> that is true to our<a href="http://inside.gratipay.com/big-picture/mission" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">mission</a> and compliant with regulations, and resume processing payments. However, <strong class="">a revised model will almost certainly exclude some of you who have been receiving money on Gratipay in the past</strong>. Simultaneously, we will work with regulators to resolve any past noncompliance, a process we’ve already initiated.</p><p name="746a" id="746a" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 30px">This really sucks for you, our users, especially those who have come to depend on the income you’ve been receiving through Gratipay. We’re deeply sorry for not discovering and handling this situation sooner, and we look forward to processing payments again as soon as possible.</p><p name="6514" id="6514" class="" style="margin:0px 0px 30px">If you have any questions please contact us <a href="mailto:support@gratipay.com" class="" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">privately via email</a>, or publicly on <a href="https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/192" class="" rel="nofollow" style="color:inherit;text-decoration:none;background-image:linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0) 50%,rgba(0,0,0,0.6) 50%);background-color:transparent;background-repeat:repeat-x">this GitHub issue</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>