A year after PayPal suspended transactions for the leading adult website Pornhub, MasterCard, and Visa have followed the example in the midst of child abuse allegations.
With cryptocurrencies remaining one of the few available options for payments, the question stands if such association is indeed positive for the industry.
Visa and MasterCard Block Use Of Cards On Pornhub
The popular adult website has attracted lots of negative attention to itself in the past few years. The situation worsened recently when the New York Times started an investigation alleging that the site depicts revenge pornography, child abuse, and rape.
Although Pornhub officially denied all accusations, the consequences for the website are already in effect. MasterCard carried an investigation on its own that confirmed violations of standards prohibiting unlawful conduct on the adult site.
Shortly after, the US multinational financial services giant terminated the use of its card on Pornhub. Visa followed suit and suspended the use even before completing its investigation.
Pornhub classified these developments as “crushing for the hundreds of thousands of models who rely on our platform for their livelihoods.”
It’s worth noting that PayPal stopped processing payments for Pornhub over a year ago. As such, adult models and users remain with very few available options.
For those wondering how payments will be processed going forward, even Pornhub’s support team doesn’t seem to be able to shed a light on it. CryptoPotato reached out to the team, but they highlighted a large number of such inquiries and said they couldn’t respond at the time.
Is It Good Or Bad For Crypto?
While traditional financial institutions have halted payments for Pornhub, the website has actually added several cryptocurrency options. In fact, the community saw the PayPal ban as a significant opportunity for digital assets to reach mass adoption.
After all, Pornhub has reported over 3.5 billion monthly visits – more than Netflix, Amazon, or Yahoo. If cryptocurrency payments remain one of the very few options available for users to purchase premium memberships, they would have to get familiar with how to handle and operate the digital assets. Meaning, the industry could receive massive exposure, which could assist with mass adoption.
On the other hand, cryptocurrencies already have somewhat of a bad rep. Being associated with darknet transactions, money laundering schemes, and other illicit activities, perhaps a potential affiliation with an adult website accused of child abuse could harm their mainstream adoption.
As such, the question remains if, ultimately, the crypto industry would benefit if digital assets become the most utilized payment option on Pornhub.
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