Pornhub now only accepts payments in encrypted form.
Users of Pornhub Premium will have to make payments in cryptocurrency, following an abandonment of Visa and MasterCard. Could this open up cryptomoney to a wider audience?
Pornhub opens up to cryptomoney against a backdrop of controversy
A few days ago the news broke: the giants MasterCard and Visa suspended their payment options on Pornhub. The move followed a controversy that was stirring up the world of pornography. An article in the New York Times had revealed that Pornhub had allowed the hosting of videos that included minors, as well as sexually abused women.
The controversy had inflated and caused Visa and MasterCard to desert the site, as they no longer wished to be associated with it. As a reminder, PayPal had already deserted Pornhub in November 2019. Since then, Pornhub had with Bitcoin Storm gradually added many cryptomonnages to its services, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Stablecoin Tether (USDT).
Does Pornhub only accept cryptomoney?
As a consequence of all this, Pornhub now only accepts cryptomonnages for its Premium users. In addition to BTC and USDT, it is possible to make payments in, BCH, DASH, ETH, ETC, LTC, TRX, WAVES, XEM , XMR, XVG and ZEC.
However, this has only been confirmed for users based in certain regions, including the US and the UK. Users in some European countries may still be able to use SEPA credit transfers, but this remains to be confirmed.
While the news may seem positive for the take-up of cryptomoney, it has however been reported as worrying by players who use the platform to perform and generate revenue. With the vast majority of premium users paying in fiat currency, there may be an exodus as a result of this reduction in the number of payment methods.
For its part, Pornhub has communicated on a programme to clean up its platform so that it no longer hosts illegal content. Will this be enough to bring back providers of means of payment? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime it could push some users to use cryptomoney for the first time.