Arizona sex workers are now accepting cryptocurrency as payment for their webcam performances. One girl MelissaSweet1, says she started accepting cryptocurrency three years ago, and is now saving for her retirement plan with it. As people continue to argue whether Bitcoin and other digital currencies are legit, these sex workers are seeing opportunities to control their finances.
Melissa believes that cryptocurrency came to save sex workers from arrogant banks which are not accepting their deposits. She added, “More banks are viewing any sex work as high risk, and an increasing number of banks are refusing to accept direct deposits from adult industry companies.”
These workers, along with erotic dancers and also many porn stars, are afraid of saving money in old-fashion ways. They fear their accounts will be in jeopardy or even their funds will become inaccessible at a bank’s doing. This is the main reason leading them to cryptocurrency, because it’s decentralized and will allow them full control of their financing.
Moving To Cold Storage
Many other workers say that, after receiving funds from their clients, they move them to offline cold storage. At that point, the funds are under their direct control.
However, since retiring on cryptocurrency means storing their income safely, these workers are developing tight-knit groups where they share information about their cold storage. They keep their keys on hardware gadgets or even on paper to avoid hacking. When they store their keys offline, their returns cannot be confiscated. This eliminates a challenge which even legal sex workers are facing when they do their transactions through banks.
Another sex worker, Leah, says she worries that the government will create strict cryptocurrency rules which may lead to the discrimination and closing of accounts belonging to sex workers. Leah also says she has been using both cold storage and the Coinbase exchange. She says that the problem with cold storage is losing the key or password. If you lose it, recovery is impossible. This means possibly losing all your life savings.
The cryptocurrency industry is becoming famous day, in day out after its breakthrough in 2017. Tremendous growth is attracting some of the best Wall Street managers to check in on the space. With more money entering the sector, regulations will begin appearing. Hopefully, everyone will receive the same treatment, including sex workers, when it comes to regulation.
