According to a BBC report on May 8, a group of international campaigners and campaign groups has written to ten major credit card companies calling for the immediate suspension of payments to pornographic websites.
If successful, this campaign may result in a new wave of people flocking to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the search for alternative payment methods.
All porn bad? Not according to PornHub
The letter, whose signatories represent campaigners from every continent except Antarctica, alleges that porn sites "eroticize sexual violence, incest, and racism" and that it is impossible to "judge or verify consent in any videos on their site, let alone live webcam videos."
This "inherently makes pornography websites a target for sex traffickers, child abusers, and others sharing predatory nonconsensual videos," it claims.
It faced a swift rebuke from major porn website, PornHub, which said that it has:
A steadfast commitment to eradicating and fighting any and all illegal content, including non-consensual and under-age material. Any suggestion otherwise is categorically and factually inaccurate.
It also claimed that the organizations behind the letter, including conservative and faith-led groups, "attempt to police people's sexual orientation and activity - [and] are not only factually wrong but also intentionally misleading."
Cryptocurrency will fill that hole
Mastercard has said that it is investigating the claims in the letter, and would terminate the connection of any porn site if illegal activity by a cardholder was confirmed.
American Express has had a global policy in force since 2000 that prohibits transactions for online pornography. However, it is running a pilot program with a company that allowed payments to certain porn websites and was also targeted by the letter.
As Cointelegraph reported, in November PayPal blocked payments to over 100,000 PornHub models, leaving them to find alternative means to receive funds.
In response, Verge (XVG), the 79th-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and which had been accepted on the site since 2018, pumped 33%. Porn users will find a way, it seems, with or without mainstream payment provider support.
PornHub also added Tether (USDT) as a payment option in January, and the website’s partnership with the PumaPay cryptocurrency payment processor finally went live last month, 18 months after it was first announced.