It seems a little disingenuous to pass all the blame to the credit card companies, when clearly it's possible for these "shady" businesses (porn sites, get rich quick ebooks, preorder campaigns) to work with a merchant account provider other than stripe, and process the same credit cards. If stripe truly had no problem with these businesses, and it was all the credit card companies tying their hands, then no merchant account would be able to support the businesses. Yet there are many merchant accounts, some catering explicitly to "high risk" businesses (with correspondingly higher fees), that have no problem with these businesses. They work with the same credit card companies and yet are not hamstrung by the same regulations.
I can see why stripe wouldn't want to support these businesses, especially those with higher chargeback rates, but don't tell us it's because of the credit card companies. If other merchant account providers can handle it, so can you. It would require more monitoring and possibly tiered fees to accommodate "high risk business," but you could do it if you wanted to.
Don't open the article with "we'd love to not be gatekeepers" and then talk about how you're doing exactly that.
I can see why stripe wouldn't want to support these businesses, especially those with higher chargeback rates, but don't tell us it's because of the credit card companies. If other merchant account providers can handle it, so can you. It would require more monitoring and possibly tiered fees to accommodate "high risk business," but you could do it if you wanted to.
Don't open the article with "we'd love to not be gatekeepers" and then talk about how you're doing exactly that.