Adios PayPal! (2026)

Finally, after 18 months of Trump tariffs and annexation bullshit, we have closed our PayPal account. Adios, Musks and Thiel fascists!

We all know that the digital ecosystem is overwhelmingly American, and trying to de-Americanize our digital existence is next to impossible. Trump might be right; we don’t have many cards in our hands, and maybe we are playing solitaire, who knows?

Éditions Basic Bruegel Editions is using Stripe now, another American company, but a lesser evil than PayPal. There are Canadian alternatives, but we would need to reinvent ourselves even more than we have. We already moved our data from an American provider (Webcore Labs) to HostPapa. As for payment processing and merchant services, we heard good things about Helcim (from Calgary); it is Canadian-built and has excellent reviews. Maybe next year. It all takes time. For now, it feels like we have won a small battle.