It is going to be a great week for truth bombs! I am so looking forward to it. Already get to watch as PayPal literally uses a guy named "The Binder", who thinks he is a Celtic God, to convey messaging through Mashable and social media posts that we are involved in tax evasion and money laundering.
Because that is what Big Tech companies do when they have a $250 billion market cap right? They don't use public statements or official correspondence with their customers. They hire journalists who host shows (literally) called DOOMED, and then leak statements from the company and others "close to the source" who say we are racist, unhinged, tax evading, and money launderers, so they can maintain some form of separation in the event they have to backtrack. But they have absolutely no bias I am sure - because any bias by the media or Big Tech has been thoroughly debunked. Just read the articles - they have reinforced this point several times now. For some reason, they think that if they write it enough, everyone will actually believe it.
Maybe you should be asking what technology Epik is working on, that would warrant this type of aggression and possible backlash to PayPal itself. There is much at stake, and they are ready to throw it all at the wall in support of their efforts for digital centralization. Epik is a shield, and on a frontline that some may be taking for granted. They can repeat their narratives all they like about us being a home for Nazis, chauvinists, racists, and hate. Just look at how they have framed us in these initial two articles. This isn't about servicing conservative clients as a political organization though. Anyone who has experienced Epik's legendary service levels, or Rob Monster's endless levels of charity and kindness, will already know this to be true. This is about facilitating delivery of the truth in whatever form it may take, and the creation of resilient services and content distribution networks to protect and preserve it. Epik isn't a political company, it is a champion of responsible free speech. It is the "unbiased" machine of a handful of monopolies that has tried to conflate otherwise, by telling everyone we are the home for "right wing violence and hatred". They can't write an article about Epik without leading with it in their headlines.
I am not sure what to think that more people in this particular community are not finding all of this highly suspicious, but given the ruthless nature of the personal attacks here, I can't blame you. I would say though for the dozen or so voices positioned to attack Epik day and night - some who have posted negative information 30+ times here in the last five days alone to bury our updates - we have tens of thousands of encouragements and direct communications coming in to offer support. The letters to PayPal alone have now been read millions of times, and the added content regarding the SPLC and GoDaddy is also starting to bust their media gates. The letters to PayPal were not constructed as political rants with no purpose. They were crafted knowing that given the arrogance of their executives believing they were in an untouchable position, that they would publish them underestimating the impact they would have.
That is the challenge with drinking too much of your own Kool-Aid when you exist as a monopoly. After a while, you tend to forget that you were the ones who originally made it. At least PayPal is trying to evolve, and as of this evening, reframing their flawed narrative as a "digital currency" issue. They discovered the images they fed their attack dogs were not actually related to our service provisions or against any law, so now they must adapt to save face and marginalize legal liabilities.
Some new coverage for you in case you missed it:
https://www.theverge.com/paypal-cuts-ties-domain-registrar-epik-digital-currency-gab
https://mashable.com/article/epik-domain-names-paypal-proud-boys/
The truth is, they have no idea what Masterbucks even is, but this was never about that anyway. There was not even ever any prior mention of Masterbucks in ANY of the correspondence we had with PayPal. It was irrelevant for their client accounts, because it is nothing more than an instore credit tool, that will let our customers have the option to use their proceeds across a host of new products and services built for domain investors. Uniregistry was literally in the Cayman Islands to take advantage of processing for tax advantages, and you are going to believe that we are breaking the law because of ad copy used from a GoDaddy sponsored SwapFest promotion that was active in two major industry shows from 2010-2012? You can't even make this stuff up. I am actually disappointed that our super sleuths and the beautiful minds trying to harm Epik here are instead not doing real detective work. You are missing the best parts of the story!
I can't even count the number of retailers who have been guided by their agencies to create branded credit currencies, and to position them to encourage retail use to drive instore purchases back for both the organizers and their partners. It is called retention, and in our case, all we ever wanted to do was maximize the opportunities that our friends and customers have to get the most from their domain investing. Even our own online "currency" was actually just a step in to the retail deals we are signing this quarter for gift certificates. Here were some of our mock drafts as we begin to work with card companies:
Eventually all our correspondence is going to come out, and then all of the people driving professional hate will be exposed. Right now everything being posted by those attempting to slander us is unequivocally false. PayPal wanted to take over ALL of our merchant operations, and literally offered us $500,000 at the start of 2020 to help facilitate project and transitional costs. They wanted to try and integrate us into their Big Tech "club", and when we refused, the relationship disintegrated pretty quickly and other factors were brought to light regarding their intentions and the influences involved. Some of the leading organizations in the industry that are quick to criticize us have actually spent the summer trying to BUY US, and Rob Monster has refused, as he cares too much for our customers and service duty to simply walk away. Beware of who you trust in these forums, as many have alternative motives.
For the record: the last conversation and human interaction we had with PayPal, was with their CEO's executive team on June 2nd on his direct behalf, and that was centered
solely on anti-competition issues related to their private relationships with GoDaddy and a specific staff/board member. They were afraid we were going to file a lawsuit against them, so they were trying to damage control it and make sure that we were happy. They could be raided today, and would not be able to produce one piece of correspondence showing any evidence of contact with Epik regarding claims of "financial risk". Certainly there has never been even a single piece of correspondence where they have mentioned Masterbucks. Do you think we would go from tax evasion and money laundering to delivering 350 copies of the FTC/DOJ pre-complaint to PayPal and GoDaddy because we were up to no good? Rob Monster has and continues to do more for this industry than any other individual I have met in twenty years.
Yet the Mashable news story literally states "
The payment processor attempted to work with Epik to fix the situation before terminating the domain registrar’s PayPal account last weekend." They attempted to work with the money launderers and the tax evaders? Don't you think if they had attempted to "work with Epik", that we would adapt and accept their input if it was related to financial risk reduction? Unlike PayPal, Epik will have no problem posting the real emails and correspondence between our offices. Everything PayPal is suggesting, and now promoting through third party media sources, is simply an attempt to muddy the water to protect themselves.
There are a dozen examples of how deluded they are in the initial Mashable article alone. There are a few though that should stick out heavily just as common sense, but here is a great one as clear indicator:
The headline of "Home to Proud Boys Domain". - Remember this domain name officialproudboys.com was loaded up with emailed threats that told Democrats they were going to be harmed if they didn't vote for Trump. It was all over the news for three days, and had some horrific mistakes and inconsistencies, so several news sources took it down because it left an awkward trail. It targeted regions that the DNC knew could be used on look backs if they lost, to prop up demographic arguments and the impact on overall voting counts. The DNI and FBI then said it was an Iranian terrorist op. The domain was then transferred from where it was being supported by IONOS/Google and came to Epik without our knowledge on October 21st (after the attacks were over). By the 23rd, it was the headline story in the piece that included quotes from PayPal and other "sources" that we were money laundering and tax evaders. I don't care how you feel about Epik - this abuse is typical, common, and happening to many people in this country. It is the very reason that Epik fights the battles it does. There are few real facts and very little integrity left in the media today, and their motivations and capacity for personal targeting are beyond abhorrent.
I want you to also think about what it would take for a domainer and lawyer in this industry, who would absolutely know that this domain was only moved to Epik on the 21st (I showed him myself), yet he would still go around the Internet publishing references of money laundering and tweets exactly like this. Along with the attempt to conflate our company like we support terrorists AND racists:
twitter(.)com/Berryhillj/status/1319604337946013700
I am not sure I would be trusting my business to this man. If he does not have the sense or discernment to see that the domain on the 19th was at another location, he cannot be good at his job. Unless someone has employed him to spend hours a day from his legal practice attacking Epik.
I promise you before this is over, everything will be made transparent regarding motivations.
I would invite everyone: spend time reading the three main letters (in PDF format at the bottom), along with the support resources and materials being assembled. We have several key pieces being published in the coming days, that will unquestionably provide more light on why it is so important that the members of this community and our industry take a stand.
www.epik.com/paypal
I am thankful for your kind attention, consideration, and for those who understand the Epik experience and difference - very appreciative for your business and friendships. Have a blessed start to your week, and may love, compassion and kindness for others light your way.
- Robert Davis