Greetings MailChimp:
We at Bitcoin Well were saddened to hear that you are no longer interested in providing email marketing services to our company. Well, perhaps “saddened” isn’t quite accurate. Our reaction was more akin to how an ill-tempered honey badger responds when someone interrupts its lunch to point out it’s using a salad fork to eat the cobra it recently beat to death with its bare paws.
We were salty. We admit it. Our first version of this letter was a classic example of the “don’t email angry” rule. We had to get our intern to remove it from the building because it was setting off the smoke alarm.
But after we cooled off, we were more confused than anything.
We understand that you have an ‘Acceptable Use’ policy which bans “…industries (that) have higher-than-average abuse complaints, which can jeopardise deliverability.”
But it seems a bit harsh that you chose to lump in Bitcoin Well, a publicly-traded company with nine years of history doing business in Canada, with groups such as “mail-order bride/spouse finders, hookup and swinger services, and multi-level marketing.”
That’s a big brush you’re tarring us with. We haven’t felt this dirty since our last annual employee summer picnic, featuring the hotly contested ‘mud pit tug-of-war’ competition.
(Accounting has won the last three of these events; they may speak nicely and dress well, but they are utter savages under those button-down Brooks Brothers shirts and animal print capri pants.)
We understand that bitcoin is still something of a nascent technology and a fairly new digital currency. We also recognise that bitcoin is a target for scammers and ne’er-do-wells who nefariously scheme to take advantage of the public’s interest in the emerging cryptocurrency marketplace.
This is why we chose a responsible path to becoming a bitcoin vendor in Canada.
It’s why we created our Bitcoin Academy in partnership with Athabasca University, where people can learn about the history of bitcoin and blockchain technology, and how bitcoin can play a role in their personal finances.
It’s why we offer our online “Bitcoin for Beginners” education sessions where people can ask questions and get honest answers from our bitcoin experts.
It’s why we partnered with MailChimp to create and deliver an opt-in email newsletter that offers news and information about bitcoin.
What we’re really talking about here, is integrity. For almost a decade, Bitcoin Well has worked hard to bring integrity to an industry that suffers from an excessive amount of misinformation. We don’t shy away from sceptics or criticism; we strongly encourage a healthy dialogue around bitcoin, as this exchange of information powers the myth-busting that dispels misconceptions sparked by sensationalist media reporting and stodgy institutional biases.
MailChimp, this is why your decision to drop us as a customer is not a good decision. You are losing a customer that has worked hard to build integrity into its functioning DNA. And frankly, using a blanket policy to ban everyone from a single established and legitimate industry is exclusionary and unfair.
We totally agree, one-hundred percent, that you have every right to control who can and can’t be a MailChimp customer. What we are disputing is your zero-tolerance approach to an entire category of business that continues to develop and grow into its potential.
It’s disappointing. We were happy with you as a vendor, and we weren’t looking to replace you. Unfortunately, it turned out you were far more interested in replacing us.
Regards,
Bitcoin Well
