In the real life crossover episode the internet has been waiting for, Pornhub has combined everybody’s two favourite past times in 2018—watching porn and trading cryptocurrency. The adult entertainment powerhouse has announced it will now let premium subscribers pay for their accounts with crypto coin Verge (XVG).
In the past, Pornhub premium members could only pay by PayPal, e-wallet company Paxum, credit card, or cheque. These options often show up on statements and invoices—and can link usernames and bank details to the subscriber.
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Those who choose to pay with Verge will now be virtually anonymous. Basically, it’s the adult version of ordering porn on Foxtel with the least porn-sounding name.
“It’s an anonymous additional form of payment,” said Pornhub’s vice president Corey Price. “Offering privacy-focused payment options is something we have been looking to do for a while”.
Verge had been hinting at a large partnership for a while now, and managed to collect 75 million coins (XVG) in a crowdfunding campaign last month. The cryptocurrency’s worth increased by over 20 percent in the hours before its Pornhub collaboration was officially announced, according to Fortune.
Verge’s founder, Justin Sunerok, seemed excited about the new partnership. “Pornhub is a global organisation with nearly a hundred million daily users,” he said. “This partnership represents an enormous market with a global reach that will compete with fiat currencies.”
Adult gaming site, Nutaku, and Pornhub partner, Brazzers, have also taken on Verge payments.
According to Wired, using crypto coin masks a user’s unique IP address (which can be traced back to you) by bouncing it through a network of computers throughout the world, a practice called peer-to-peer routing. Verge subscribers can choose to either make their transactions public or private.
In a trailer for the new partnership, Pornhub says that “porn [has] always been the tipping point with online payments, video streaming, VR—this [is] no different.”
For the time being, Pornhub is sticking to just one crypto, but plans on expanding coin options in the future.
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