PayPal pulling out of Pornhub may better crypto’s value as protection

“Once the director calls cut, I will wipe my cheeks, we go back to talking about his wife and what paint colors they picked out for the new house. Shower, hugs, I go home to my family, he goes home to his. That’s normal.”

These are the words of Dani Daniels, who described her day-to-day job as an entertainer.

Now, many of you may not recognize her name, but she is a respected actor and director in her field and industry. The aforementioned description of her profession sounds perfectly routine until her industry is revealed, which is largely frowned upon and judged, even in the 21^st century. Yes, Ms. Daniels is an Adult Entertainer.

Despite the many eye-rolls following this statement, the masses cannot be blamed. A highly toxic narrative has developed over the years around the adult entertainment industry, and the recent development involving PayPal further amplifies the bitter truth.

PayPal, a global payments system, has indefinitely blocked all transactions related to Pornhub, jeopardizing the livelihood of over 100,000 adult performers. The payment gateway was the only system in place that was used to facilitate payments for these entertainers, with Corey Price, Vice President of Pornhub, clearly devastated. This is not just a clear violation of basic human courtesy, but the profession of these entertainers has also been shamelessly disregarded.

Was it because the Adult Entertainment Industry did not record valuable numbers? Congratulations! That particular assumption is incredibly inaccurate.

In 2018, Pornhub raked in numbers better than any other entertainment platform. The website “entertained” its viewers over 33.5 billion times, which was equivalent to 13.7 million visits per day, 201,405 videos played and over 64,000 visitors per minute for a year. A year!

The numbers were even more impressive from a revenue perspective.

According to a poll conducted by XBIZ, the porn industry generates revenue between $6 billion and $15 billion every year, in the U.S alone. In fact, the accumulated revenue is more than the NBA, Hollywood, and Netflix, combined.

The aforementioned facts and numbers make PayPal’s decision to pull out its services from Pornhub even more nonsensical. However, the solution may have been staring at the industry right in its face.

Following the PayPal news, Corey Price told media outlets,

“We currently payout in verge and are evaluating adding other cryptocurrency payout options.”

Crypto and the Adult industry: Made for each other?

Unlike other forms of entertainment, the porn industry was very efficient in adopting early technological developments. When VHS tapes made its way into the U.S in 1977, the porn industry played an instrumental role in harnessing its success in the 1980s.

Similarly, crypto-payments have also been a significant part of the industry since early-2017.

Websites like Naughty America and xHamster facilitated Bitcoin payments in 2017, whereas the likes of Pornhub, started to form collaborations with the likes of Horizen, Tron and Verge cryptocurrency.

However, how can a form of payment make a difference to its users? It was only about access at the end of the day, correct?

It did make a difference, from a point of view of privacy.

According to a poll by fightthenewdrug.com, most porn is accessed by millennials who are between the ages of 16 and 33. An individual in this age group has a relatively active life, a time when they socially bond with a lot of people on a regular basis. At such a time, it can come across as embarrassing to one’s partner or friends if they get to know that they are paying for pornography. The adult entertainment business is such, one that it is better to experience in the privacy of one’s own space.

Hence, this is where both parties meet at a common ground and presented a great opportunity.

The anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies has also helped consumers avoid their private viewing habits on the Internet to appear on their credit card bills. Therefore, the thought of awkwardly explaining emails from your favorite porn websites to your friends and colleagues was limited to none.

JP Morgan, PayPal: Hitting all the wrong spots?

Speaking from an entertainer’s perspective, the recent issue with PayPal is bad news. However, this wasn’t the first such case as these professionals have had to face scrutiny from centralized institutions all the time.

Back in 2014, JP Morgan Chase, a Fortune 500 company, shut down the bank accounts of several adult entertainers. While the exact number was not revealed, it was reported that over hundreds were closed down and the bank did not list any reason other than the fact that these individuals had connections to the porn industry. The morality portrayed by the bank was despicable as the institution did not express any civility by informing these individuals of such a closure beforehand. Hence, most of these performers are forced to take payments in cash, which becomes a personal hassle for them as their security is in the limbo.

This serious issue was highlighted by Ginger Banks, an adult performer, who told AMBCrypto,

“The fact that so many financial institutions can decide what you can spend your money on should scare more people. If you’re not breaking any laws, why shouldn’t you be able to send your money to a sex worker on PayPal? They have been doing this for years and if they do it to pornhub, literally anyone can be targeted.”

The current PayPal situation is also pretty critical for employed Pornhub models, as payments are currently halted for all of these performers.

AMBcrypto reached out to one such adult entertainer on Pornhub and asked her about the current situation with respect to payments. The model, going by the stage name SoCutie girl, stated,

“I am extremely not happy that PayPal removed support for Pornhub models. And the more I resented the fact that it happened on the eve of the remuneration. And I (like most models) have no choice how to turn to cryptocurrency, since all payment services check personal data for a long time before crediting funds. I just don’t have time for this. At the moment I want to register with Paxum and maybe I will cooperate with Them in the future. After all, I have never encountered cryptocurrency. I’m even a little scared that I might lose all the rewards. But at the moment I don’t see any other way out.”

Another entertainer going by the stage name CuteIntroduction was more direct as she did not hold herself back. She responded categorically,

“F*** PayPal. Cryptocurrencies are the way to go.”

However, Ginger Banks was more cautious in her examination of cryptocurrency’s prospects in the porn industry. She said,

“Cryptocurrency is the future but I believe the lack of convenience is preventing people from using it more often. I also think that a lot of media outlets have taken bitcoin and completely like….skewed any public perception of what the purpose of cryptocurrency is.”

Conclusion

Every individual has the right to choose their own preferred profession and Adult Entertainment is just one of them. And unlike the days of yore, the industry is not more a small one either.

The fact that centralized payment systems are disregarding the problems faced by these professionals is far from ideal and is in fact, downright insulting. In such an environment, virtual assets may just provide the most convenient solution for adult entertainers who are tired of having to run pillar to post for a trusted payment partner.

Since the use of cryptocurrencies in the porn industry isn’t anything new, some may argue that the solution has been there for quite a while now, staring at people’s faces. That may be true. However, the PayPal episode may be the real climax in the story as maybe, just maybe, cryptocurrencies can now gain some broader recognition and adoption. After a history of being sidelined by mainstream financial and banking institutions, cryptocurrencies may just be the protection adult entertainers need.