PayPal is suspending its operations in Turkey after it was refused regulatory approval.  Immediately after PayPal’s announcement, competitor Stripe began an effort to sign up merchants who were orphaned by PayPal’s decision.

Apparently Stripe is pushing its “Atlas” program, which promises to establish a U.S. business entity for Turkish merchants for $500.  But it isn’t that simple, as I blogged earlier this year.  Establishing a U.S. entity involves more than just setting up a shell corporation, and as this Wall Street Journal article mentions, there are other regulatory considerations involving the settlement of funds.

Turkey wanted PayPal to operate its technology infrastructure within the country, which is of course a ridiculous position to take with a global payments network.

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