Porn may open the door to the mainstream for cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has grown a strong following of hardcore supporters but has yet to gain widespread acceptance and ease of use. But now another hardcore faction might help bridge the gap and open the doors to wider usage: porn. After OnlyFans became the latest website/porn service to see its value and success hanging in the balance of a battle between its users and the powerful banking industry that allows them to collect money, many in the adult industry are looking towards crypto as a viable alternative.

Earlier this month, OnlyFans, a site that boomed with Covid-19 as people turned to creating adult content online to make money, announced they would ban sexually explicit content, blaming the move on banks and investors being skittish about porn. After days of venomous backlash, the site reversed the ban.

But it was enough to spook creators on the site, many of whom had never dabbled in adult content before. OnlyFans has begun to mainstream adult material, and site members who had found financial success started looking for a Plan B if and when the rug gets pulled out from under them.

Cryptocurrency sidesteps the powerful banking institutions too prudish to process porn payments and allow anonymous financial transactions to bolster the world of adult peer-to-peer content creation.

While the worlds of crypto and porn may both still seem fringe, porn has frequently been a driving force behind technologies gaining wider usage. Adult content creator Adreena Winters is a brand ambassador for an adult marketplace that accepts crypto and she sees porn as the vehicle to normalise cryptocurrency.

“Porn has frequently been the factor for new concepts taking off, be it VHS, online credit card payments and even the internet, so I don’t think it’s surprising that porn will be what eventually get crypto to become mainstream.”

But many see cryptocurrency as a compelling future path that’s not quite ready for prime time (or after dark). Payment processes for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still clunky and not easy for an average user. And the volatility means a 1000-baht payment could cost the customer 10,000 baht tomorrow, or be worth 100 baht to the creator the next day.

Still, with traditional banking often quick to disassociate from adult material, disgruntled creators and consumers may lead the charge that streamlines the technology and harkens cryptocurrency into the mainstream.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post