Sex workers in the United States have historically suffered discrimination from banking institutions. SpankPay states that its payment processor, Checkout dot com, refuses to work with the adult business industry in this case.
SpankPay is a component of the SpankChain ecosystem, which includes a number of blockchain-based solutions for sex workers. The crypto payment platform allows adult entertainers to receive money in digital assets while also converting them to fiat currency. The team behind the project said: After a long and serious contemplation, we have chosen to close down SpankPay, our crypto payment processor that we developed as a safe refuge for our community. Your money is safe with us, and we’ll deliver it to you as quickly as possible. (…) This surprised us because our relationship with Wyre had been supportive and courteous up to this time.
The crypto payment network suspended fiat payments “indefinitely” on January 6, 2023. The project was forced to halt these transactions at this time due to the crypto winter affecting Wyre; the company was forced to wind down in order to stay afloat.
Transactions resumed, but the company ceased operations once more as Wyre “targeted” and closed the account for the SpankChain product. With today’s declaration, the troubled partnership came to an end.
According to Vice, when Wyre chose to disconnect them off its payment rails in February, the SpankChain product tweeted the following: Running SpankPay in a hostile financial environment has always been difficult, but the growing attacks have made our tiny company and the unique industry we serve unsustainable.
Crypto is the sole option for many in the adult entertainment industry to obtain payment. Vice cited the case of Allie Eve Knox, a sex worker and SpankPay advisor who was purportedly barred from using every major payment network in the United States, including PayPal, Square, CashApp, Venmo, and others.
People like Knox rely only on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to pay their bills. Vice was told by a sex worker, “We simply have to keep going.” Because, you know, that’s the ordinary song and dance of whores.’ Alright, we screwed up yesterday; we’ll get up tomorrow and rectify it.
