You have probably heard the phrases “Bitcoin” or “blockchain technology” being thrown around lately, but if you’re like most people, you’re probably wondering what they mean. And more importantly, what does it have to do with the adult entertainment industry?

Once every few generations, there is a technological shift that shakes up how we go about our lives, from the printing press to electricity to the internet. The most recent example of this is, you guessed it, blockchain.

While the printing press enabled the increased spread of information and the internet gave rise to instant international communication, blockchain now gives us the power to make instant, anonymous, international transactions through what is known as cryptocurrency.

Even better, these transactions don’t need to be managed or approved by anyone. If I want to send money to you, I can do it directly without using my bank or credit card. It’s pretty much the equivalent of directly handing you cash… but online.

I’ve written before about how this is transforming payments in the adult industry. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact that blockchain can have. Read on to hear about some initial innovations we’re starting to see as blockchain technology is being applied to solve many of the challenges in the adult entertainment industry.

Blockchain adoption is already happening

Though anonymous, instant financial transactions through cryptocurrency are one of the key benefits being offered by blockchain technology, the applications go far beyond this. This technology has the potential to change the structure of business completely, enabling stakeholders to transact, contribute, and make decisions all without a “trusted” central manager.

This might be hard to picture, so let me give you a few examples of what is already being done by new blockchain projects in the adult entertainment space. Their less than corporate names leave little to the imagination in terms of what they’re about.

WankCoin

When you combine cryptocurrency with the porn industry, what do you get? WankCoin. This not-so-subtly named cryptocurrency is specifically aimed at solving some of the key challenges faced by the adult entertainment industry, namely data protection, payment lags, and chargebacks. These are major problems faced by many businesses in the space, for which there are currently no clear-cut solutions.

WankCoin promises to deliver fast, safe and private payments. Like most cryptocurrencies, transactions are made instantly and do not attach one’s name to the transaction. So as the WankCoin team proclaims on their site, no longer will your significant other see compromising purchases on your credit card statement. Built on the well-known Ethereum blockchain, WankCoin is already accepted as a method of payment by over 100 sites.

SpankChain

SpankChain is an adult entertainment ecosystem that works with performers. It allows secure payments and private wallets, with your personal information masked behind your Wallet ID so that it cannot be easily associated with your identity. This also protects you from the possibility of having your account frozen as it could be with an identifiable account on a public crypto exchange.

This project’s focus is on picking up the slack from other payment providers like PayPal, who have, in their words, “redlined” workers in the adult entertainment industry. The result is that PayPal, and others, regularly charge users from the adult industry higher fees, and then there’s the lack of anonymity as well.

The alternative being introduced by SpankChain is a 5% maximum fee, no chargebacks, and transactions without identifiable personal information. Importantly, there is no need to give out credit card or bank account details on either end of the transaction.

VogoV

VogoV aims to democratize the decision-making process for adult content production through its interactive studio in Hollywood. Users get to actively participate in the direction of a story, decide upon scenarios, and influence the participating actors and actresses and other components of the production.

While consumer feedback and market responses have become much more strongly linked with the advent of the internet, this democratic proposal allows far more discrete and efficient ways of catering content for consumers. It also comes with its own wallet for recurring payments.

Vice Industry Token

Then there’s the leftfield business Vice Token, which rewards you with cryptocurrency for consuming pornographic content, flipping the switch on who pays for media. The idea is that, currently, systems do not reward a user for their attention, input or social media participation.

Proof of Brain and Proof of View systems mean that liking and commenting on the material to show you’ve watched it rewards you with money. It’s a great marketing tactic for sure, and we’ll have to see if it actually pans out.

Nonetheless, this is a great example of how blockchain can completely turn traditional business structures on their heads by directly connecting consumers and producers of content.

So what’s the point of these developments?

At the core of entrepreneurship is the idea of problem-solving. Today, thanks to blockchain technology, entrepreneurs have a very powerful tool at their disposal to solve some long-standing problems in the adult entertainment industry. This technology also has tremendous potential to empower consumers and actors through more democratic, decentralized systems.

While I don’t personally vouch for any of the projects mentioned above, it’s exciting to see this kind of innovation and experimentation in the space. With this technology, in 10 years, the way that adult content is produced and consumed could be completely transformed.

Dean Steinbeck, managing director of Crypto Law Insider and general counsel at Horizen (formerly ZenCash), is a leading authority on legal issues related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Dean is a US corporate lawyer with a focus on data privacy and technology and over 15 years of experience representing VC-backed software development companies. His experience gives him an in-depth knowledge of the legal intricacies within blockchain technology, data privacy, intellectual property, venture capital funding and regulatory compliance. Contact him at [email protected]