Get Paid to Watch Porn: Cryptocurrency and the Pornography Industry
If you are like me, you have heard of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, but know very little about it. We see newspaper articles about bitcoin values going up and down and articles about how digital currency is going to eventually take over traditional banking. Other than headlines, most of us don’t pay much attention. However, as with any new technology, the pornography industry pays attention.
First, here is a 30 second, non-technical review of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital cash system, that is kept secure by strong cryptography. Transactions made with cryptocurrency are irreversible, untraceable to a person’s real-world identity, fast, global, secure and permissionless. The use of this technology offers a way to pay for things or transfer money that is under the radar of governments and can be kept anonymous from a person’s credit history, spouse, etc.
Cryptocurrency can be used to pay for things but there is also a growing industry of ICOs or initial coin offerings. ICOs are basically crowdfunding projects. A company puts forth a white paper with their idea and then asks for investment. The hope is that the project comes to fruition, and the coin will increase in value.
Why on earth am I talking to you (poorly at that) about cryptocurrency? Well, it has entered the pornography industry. On April 17, Pornhub announced that it now accepts the cryptocurrency Verge as a payment option. The use of Verge allows a pornhub users to buy a subscription to the site in an anonymous fashion. For those who don’t want anyone, including their credit card company, to know they have purchased a subscription to a pornography site, the use of cryptocurrency is the perfect option.
Another foray into the crypto/pornography world is the Vice Industry Token. This new token is currently in development but has completed its ICO. The token wants to take advantage of the attention economy. The premise is that they wish to remonetize the industry around viewer desire and not that of paid content sponsors. In this model, tokens will be generated and distributed based on user engagement. All parties in the process will be rewarded. Content producers will be rewarded for creating content that gets a lot of viewer attention and viewers will be rewarded. The company has trademarked the phrase “Get paid to watch porn.” See the white paper here
The users of this system will then be able to pay for further pornographic content with the VIT tokens that they have earned by watching pornography. Basically, someone can watch pornography (which they likely would do already) and earn digital money to do so. They could then use that digital money to buy more adult content.
For those individuals who struggle with pornography addiction, this is something that adds even more incentive to watch pornography. Now they can get paid to do something they already do. For those individuals who are choosing to hide their pornography use from a spouse or partner, this offers a greater opportunity for secrecy. There are no credit card statements to find. There is no missing money. There is an increased amount of anonymity which is one of the three accelerators of problematic internet behavior: anonymity, accessibility and affordability.
Dr. Weeks is the Owner and Director of Sexual Addiction Treatment Services, specializing in problematic sexual behavior, and treatment and evaluation of cybersex offenders.
