What is Cryptocurrency? Why is it suddenly popular in porn?

Back in my day, you entered your card number into the porn sites to get access to your favorite porn videos and the sites you bought them on withdrew your funds in your local currency (USD, CAD, etc) and paid a part of them to the performer. Easy peasy but it comes with some flaws, one of the biggest of them being the lack of privacy that comes with purchases made directly from your bank account in your local currency. Cryptocurrency is a form of currency that is digital and helps to rectify the privacy issue created by using personal cards and bank accounts by simplifying the transfer of currency to a blockchain style system. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, so let’s break it down.

You know how when you go grocery shopping (if anyone still does that in person these days) items all have a bar code that is scanned that identifies what the item is? That is almost like a cryptocurrency wallet. Each type of cryptocurrency has it’s own identifying wallet number in your wallet, it allows you to receive that specific type of cryptocurrency to your wallet. It is a unique sequence (like a barcode) that identifies that the wallet is yours and the type of cryptocurrency being transferred to you. Your wallet code for receiving Bitcoin will be different than Ethereum, etc. You also need to remember that wallets all have different types of cryptocurrency that they support, so before you decide to accept cryptocurrency directly for payments you will want to ensure you sign up for a wallet that allows you to accept the type that you want.

What kind of cryptocurrency should I accept for payments?

Deciding your preferred cryptocurrency type will depend on if you are looking for something that can potentially grow over time if left in your wallet, or if you are looking for a quick transfer to your local currency and cash out. Stable-coins will work much better for quick cashouts because the likelihood of losing money is not high, that comes with the unfortunate side effect of also not potentially gaining money. One of the biggest benefits of cryptocurrency (but also drawback if not planned correctly) is that nearly all cryptocurrency outside of your standard stable-coins are fairly volatile. This means that throughout the day the value of the currency changes (when compared to your preferred currency.) When you go to the store and buy a carton of eggs, you can typically count on it to come out to around $1 USD. That is because the value of a dollar is pretty steady when it comes to the value of goods and services. The value of the dollar also doesn’t fluctuate dramatically because money is being continuously printed which means the possibility of a shortage of dollar bills isn’t high. Compare this to cryptocurrency, and you’ll be mind boggled.

To simplify it: the value is in a unique sequence that you purchase with other unique sequences or with your local currency. The value of the amount of cryptocurrency you hold is determined by a few things: demand, supply, and usability. Major cryptocurrencies that nearly everyone has heard of like Bitcoin or Ethereum are so highly valued because they are in demand, there is a limited supply, and many major businesses accept them as payment methods. Since a majority of cryptocurrency has a limited supply, this can drive up the value of the cryptocurrency. If a rare limited edition baseball card came out and there were only 10 printed, that would drive up the desire for the baseball card because it is rare. If someone decided they wanted to buy the baseball card for “$x” that would become the new value of that card if the offer was accepted by the current card holder. If a card holder holds half of the cards, then they are even rarer than before and the price can be fluctuated entirely by that majority holder of the cards. The only value behind the cards is the desire for the cards, if the market for the cards decides that they are too expensive or not worth the money then the price once again will change. That is how volatile cryptocurrency works.

Stable-coins are a little different because their main functionality is holding a specific value. Some good stable-coin options for performers new to cryptocurrency are Tether (USDT) or USD Coin (USDC.) The main benefit of these coins is that they are fully collateralized by the US Dollar, meaning the value will always remain around $1 because it is traded on exchange with actual backing assets. Any cryptocurrency that you accept that isn’t a stable-coin will put you at risk of losing money, but can also put you in a position to gain money.

How can I decide what cryptocurrency to accept if I don’t want to use a stable-coin?

When you are looking at cryptocurrency to accept you need to look at the performance of the coin first and foremost, while it may be tempting to jump into cryptocurrency by taking the largely discussed crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, since both of these are very public coins that are reported on constantly and in the forefront of many crypto conversations, you may actually shoot yourself in the foot if you accept these coins when they are on the rise and not during a dip.

So… what’s a dip? Besides something delicious to have on chips, a dip is when a cryptocurrency is holding a steady rise or plateau and suddenly drops. Since cryptocurrency is largely based on the demand for it, dips often scare crypto holders into selling out in order to minimize their loses. For example: recently Bitcoin fell from the value of $59,000 USD to $37,885 USD. This happened in a span of only about 12 days, meaning if 12 days ago someone accepted a Bitcoin payment for 1 Bitcoin (a high amount, but crypto math isn’t fun) they would have “lost” $21,115. This scares people who invest in cryptocurrency and can sometimes lead to a phenomenon called “paper hands” when a person sells their cryptocurrency to avoid any more loss, or if for instance someone bought Bitcoin back when it was valued at $100, they may try to sell when they see the dip happening so they don’t lose out on potential profit. But hear me out here… if you do decide to get into cryptocurrency and accept volatile coins, DO NOT SELL THE DIP.

You don’t actually lose value in your currency until you sell or trade it, while it is in your possession you still have the capability to gain back that profit. But again, this is a double edged sword because you also don’t reap the profits until you sell. 1 Bitcoin will always equal 1 Bitcoin, 1 Ethereum will always equal 1 Ethereum, and 1 Doge will always equal 1 Doge. If you sell your 1 coin, you are losing the future profitability of that coin.

With that in mind, pick out your coin by finding one that shows consistency in patterns. While it may not necessarily be a stable-coin, if it is showing consistent growth, if it is gaining popularity, or if it has already had it’s “bubble pop” and has a consistent “floor” (the value it very rarely ever drops below) then it is probably a great option for accepting payments. If you are looking for something to accept as tips for the long-term investment potential, getting large amounts of alt-coins that are cheap can be a great way to turn a significant profit. A cryptocurrency worth $0.01 going to $0.02 will give you 100% profit and is much easier to achieve then a $50 coin getting to $100 with the same profitability, you will also be able to hold much more of the cheap coin since the value to buy it is so low.

Avoid using “hype coins” as a payment method for serious content, only take it for tips

If you aren’t familiar with hype coins, it’s coins that are pumped by the public for holders of large quantities to turn over a profit by doing microtransactions. If you’ve heard of Dogecoin, you know what a hype coin is. Dogecoin was a joke cryptocurrency with an (almost) unlimited supply that suddenly jumped from being valued at under a penny in the beginning of 2021 to breaking new $0.10 barriers almost on a weekly basis, before dipping and having it’s “bubble pop” due to Elon Musk getting on Saturday Night Live and calling it a hustle. Hype coins will be swayed heavily by the public (like Elon Musk, who somehow became the king of cryptocurrency) and can face unexpected and highly risky volatile dips just because of a tweet. While it is dangerous because of the dips, it is also highly profitable if you get in before the bubble pops. This once again comes down to researching, looking at patterns, tracking growth, looking at long-term supply and usability, as well as market demand. Dogecoin did amazing during it’s sprint to a high of $0.70 but the growth potential beyond that is low due to the fact that a majority of the owned supply is held by a small group of people and because new Dogecoin is being produced rapidly, meaning it’ll most likely never “run out.” The danger of selling content or providing services in exchange for payments with “hype coins” is that you can potentially be impacted by the high volatility of the coin and end up losing profit for your product if you aren’t willing to hold the coins in your wallet until it goes back up, IF it goes back up. (As someone sitting here with -$2,200 in Dogecoin right now, I will assure you that holding cryptocurrency when it is dipping and spiraling is in my top 10 most stressful feelings.)

Find a wallet that does everything that you need

Finding a wallet that works for you and does everything that you need will help make your life easier, and help prevent money loss from transferring from wallet to wallet looking for the right fit for you. This is important because many wallets do charge fees for transfers, so limiting your outgoing transfers will help you to keep as much of your profit as possible!

Personally (being US based) I use the Crypto.com App, mainly because it has a fiat wallet attached which allows me to sell my cryptocurrency in exchange for USD and transfer it out to my bank account. The app allows me to accept transfers in over 25 different types of coins, and has the benefit of allowing users to use my phone number to send me cryptocurrency so there is no stress and hassle with ensuring I send the proper wallet code for the correct cryptocurrency and risking losing it if they input my wallet code incorrectly.

While that works best for me, some performers prefer using Kraken, Kucoin, Coinbase, Webull, Exodus, and more. The most important thing is to make sure that it supports the cryptocurrency you are looking to accept, that you can sell that cryptocurrency at some point if necessary, that transfer fees are low, and that it is user friendly enough for you to utilize based on your skill set. I’ve heard great things about Kucoin, but that sh*t is way too complicated for me.

Do I have to pay taxes on cryptocurrency?

When you exchange cryptocurrency for your local currency, yes you will pay taxes on it. This is what makes the usability of cryptocurrency so attractive and why popular coins dominate the crypto discussion, because they are accepted as actual payment for goods and services. I’m not telling you to evade your taxes, but cryptocurrency is digital money that isn’t tracked until you exchange it for a different currency. You should also read your preferred wallets terms and conditions to see if they report your capital gains or not. The taxes you pay on cryptocurrency profits are actually most likely higher than what you pay on income tax, it’s called a “capital gains” tax. There are long-term and short-term capital gains taxes that range from 20%-37% (in America.)

Wallet… too… stressful… Can I still crypto?

Thankfully, many websites have realized that dealing with cryptocurrency can be a lot for people just getting started in cryptocurrency trading. Our top recommendation for an adult friendly “mediator” website to handle your crypto transactions is SpankPay. SpankPay is a link based crypto wallet that allows your customers to send you a variety of different cryptocurrencies to your wallet where you hold it in your preferred currency. It is a great option for performers who want to give customers the ability to pay in cryptocurrency but to receive it in USD, for performers looking for a low fee tipping or payment option because the fee charged is only 0.5%, and for performers looking to avoid chargebacks because cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible.

SpankPay is also integrated with other adult performers like SkyPrivate and JustForFans to allow fans to pay in cryptocurrency for many different websites.