The Banking Vendetta Against Pornography – Is Cryptocurrency The Future For Adult Creators?

After numerous instances demonstrating the difficulties current banks are giving to adult platforms such as OnlyFans, there have been suggstions that cryptocurrency – decentralised digital currency, could provide the solution. In fact, this solution might already be on its way any time now.

So why might cryptocurrency solve the payment issues in the adult industry?

Last summer saw the shock announcement from OnlyFans to say that they would be banning adult content from the platform – a move that rocked the adult industry to the core as so many professionals models and amateurs alike had turned to OnlyFans to make money since the start of the pandemic… in some cases, HUGE money!

The backlash from models, buyers, and pretty much everyone, everywhere, was huge, and it wasn’t long before the UK-based subscription platform announced that it was performing a u-turn on this decision, and that it would indeed continue allowing adult content.

But why did they make this original announcement in the first place? Doesn’t the adult industry form the very backbone of OnlyFans’ user-base? And what is the long-term outlook for the adult industry?

The reason OnlyFans gave for making this decision initially, was because of problems they were having with their payment processors – banks were reluctant to work with them due to the nature of their business.

After the backlash to the decision, an OnlyFans spokesman came out and said that the company had reached an agreement with their payment platforms, and that they’d be able to continue operating as before – with adult content on the site.

However, since then, the adult content creation industry lost another one of its big players, with AVN Stars and GayVN Stars closing their (digital) doors.

So OnlyFans almost fell victim to this banking vendetta against adult content, and then AVN Stars did fall victim to it. Maybe OnlyFans were able to survive becuase of the sheer size of them – giving them some leverage over the banks when they were discussing solutions to this problem? Maybe AVN Stars weren’t quite ‘powerful’ enough to fight back, and had to close?

Whatever exactly went on behind closed doors, we can’t be sure. But what we do know it that banks are making it difficult for businesses in the adult industry, and this in itself is really making it difficult for new and existing businesses to help create a safe and thriving industry.

So enter CRYPTOCURRENCY. Most of our readers are probably vaguely aware of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies after their rocket to fame in recent years.

So how could crypto help the adult industry? Well, without going into the technical aspects of Bitcoin or other crpytos (we probably couldn’t explain if we tried!), cryptocurrency is digital currency that operates on a blockchain – essentially meaning that no one owns the system itself. People just own their own piece of the blockchain, but the framework on which it is on (the blockchain), is decentralised.

In a nutshell, this means that no one can stop transactions taking place. No one is in charge, the way a bank is. A bank can block a payment because they own the system in which your money is stored, but with crypto, there’s no single entity that can do this.

So could this be a long term solution to the banks giving grief to adult platforms and adult creators?

At Snexwork, we think it might well be the case.

Currently there are a number of adult cryptocurrencies that have been developed to combat this payment crisis, and now there is a crypto-based platform currently in BETA form, that is hoping to innovate in the industry in the coming months and years.

NSFW.app is a leading player in the market, offering 0% creator fees (compared to OnlyFans’ 20%), and total privacy/anonymous transactions.

It might not be time to abandon OnlyFans or similar platforms just yet, as platforms such as NSFW.app are still in their infancy.

Plus, it will be potentially a number of years before the general population is comfortable and familiar with using cryptocurrency, and therefore there is no doubt that at present, the best way of appealing to the widest possible audience when trying to acquire subscribers, is still by selling content using traditional money such as USD or GBP.

However, where will the industry be in 10 years time? That is up for debate!