EDIT: Hussy in the meantime changed their design for the proof of consent mechanism mentioned in red flag.

Disclaimer: I am a straight white male and I have very little knowledge about sex workers. I do however have some common sense.

I recently wrote about Blockchains in general, now I want to go into details on a concrete example.

The company HUSSY.io is currently on a weird Twitter follower gathering trip (they followed and unfollowed more than 2000 accounts in just 2 days).

The company claims to “Making the oldest profession safer”. And literally claiming that “Blockchain is the solution” to this. I did a little research and let me tell you. So many red flags…

Red Flag 1 – The Name

Dictionaries, whether Oxford or Urban define a hussy as a woman lacking morals. Great job, just by reading your name, you already stigmatized a group of people that is already struggling. Good luck convincing them that you actually want to help them.

Red Flag 2 – No (Visible) Experience with Sex Workers

Whenever I see startup pitches, there is usually a personal story involved. Some narrative around how a founder relates to the problem the startup is trying to solve. It’s pretty hard to see in this particular example. The (mostly male) team that is presented on the homepage seems to lack even basic experience with sex workers. Of course all of them are super into crypto and are serial entrepreneurs, but the only one who is even remotely connected to sex workers, is a guy that founded an erotic online magazine after high school and is the CEO of a company that seems to be some kind of internet marketing agency for various things, among them the adult industry. Not a great sell on knowing what you are doing.

Red Flag 3 – Insanely Tone Deaf Wording in Their Marketing Material

Browsing through their documents, one phrase made me especially angry. Supposedly HUSSY.io wants to put consent on the Blockchain. I am not kidding. They are trying to implement something called “Proof of Consent”. It works by having a QR code that the sex worker and the client exchange via an app to make sure the interaction is consensual.

But that’s not even the worst part. Here is a quote from the whitepaper on what problem this is going to solve:

The problem with the status quo in sex work is, that the sexual consent is difficult to prove and is often abused by sex workers in order to threaten clients or obtain other benefits.

Really? The problem with lacking consent is that sex workers somehow blackmail clients? Shame on you sex workers for trying to falsely accuse your clients of rape on a regular basis (end of sarcasm).

It’s hard for me to believe that any sex worker will read this statement without being offended in a major way.

EDIT: The original quote has since been removed and the proof of consent mechanism has been changed so the verification takes place “after providing the service”.

Red Flag 4 – Major Criticism from Activists

Trending Topics an Austrian online startup magazine, recently interviewed a sex worker and a spokesperson about HUSSY.io and the verdict has been reprehensible. Phrases like “Guilty of Pimping” and “An absurd theater” were among the quotes. Have a look at the article yourself (German Original Google Translate Version).

Conclusion

My motivation for this article to voice my opinion publicly as I have seen a lot of positive feedback from Twitter mentions and crypto communities about this venture. My questions about their ridiculous “Proof of Consent” idea have so far been unanswered and I hope that the adult industry will act on their common sense and not give this startup any stage.

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