Crypto Fever: The Impact of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
From Bitcoin's release in 2009, up until the spring of 2017, crypto has greatly remained in the realm of the Innovator. But as of April of 2017, cryptocurrencies enjoyed a major boom in popularity, as students and academics embraced Bitcoin and Altcoins, the world over.
These were the early adopters getting into gear and warming up to the idea of a decentralized economy.
The hype train didn't stop in the auditoria and student campuses, the early majority got a taste of Cryptocurrencies late November / early December 2017, when both the valuations for Bitcoin and major altcoins like Ethereum, Cardano and Ripple skyrocketed.
Now hairdressers, drug dealers, massage therapists, musicians, tram drivers, sex toy salesmen, and hydrologists got their feet wet too. Everywhere you'd go, the conversation was the same. And what about us? Of course! You can buy our interactive sex toys using crypto too!
Are you into crypto? What's in your Blockfolio? Is Ripple evil? Did you read the Cardano whitepaper? How do you feel about ICO's?
You couldn't get your hair cut without the barber checking his POE investment every 10 snips.
Even those who were skeptic had their mouths full about the "Bitcoin Bubble"
Terms like HODL, DYOR and Dead Cat were spat out like people never talked about anything else in their life.
- Abel: "ICO, I see zeroes, Ethereum got my wrist icey Yo!"
Blockchain in the Adult Industry
The adult entertainment industry has always been a driving factor in the promotion and adoption of emerging technologies. Whether it's shifting VHS from being a fringe contender in the Video-Tape sphere into the mainstream, or bypassing HD DVD, in the switch from CD-ROM to Blu-ray, porn has always been a propellant and accelerator into having the masses accept new tech.
Porn stood at the beginning of online secure payments, streaming video content, Virtual Reality, and haptic interface design.
And now the adult entertainment industry is dead set on bringing the wonders of the Blockchain to the consumer market.
Porn tends to make things understandable, applicable and relevant.
You might have heard of altcoins like Titcoin, XXXcoin, Fapcoin, and Spankchain.
Many innovative minds are looking both to score easy headlines, as well as venturing into the sophisticated tech behind blockchain processing. Some coins are just meme-coins. Others are more serious and are looking into optimizing video-streaming, payment-processing, optimization of logistics, or even affiliate revenue attribution.
We asked consumers, scholars, blockchain experts and performers on their opinions and views on how they would see blockchain tech, and cryptocurrencies impact the future of the adult entertainment industry.
The effect of Blockchain on Streaming Video and Video Content in 2018
Some of our respondents suggested that adult content streaming sites are likely to adopt decentralized distributed storage protocols like IPFS and DAT. And that techies from the adult industry might evolve these protocols so that they can process 4k video faster and more efficient.
Others mainly feel that having the content decentralized will make it more accessible for people in geo's that are less tolerant of adult content. Afterall, the anonymity of uploaders and viewers can be addressed by adding elements of enhanced privacy into the blockchains core scripts.
The Adoption of Cryptocurrency payments on Adult sites
Nobody exactly knows how many adult sites are already accepting Bitcoin and Altcoins today, but our respondents are quite bullish on the matter and they are saying that we will see anywhere between 30% and 60% of all adult content sites accepting payments in crypto by the end of 2018. They all agree that if the big sites start accepting it, the smaller ones will follow in their footsteps. There seems to be a consensus amongst all segments of our respondents that crypto should be, and will be an accepted payment option before too long.
Will the adoption of cryptocurrencies by the adult industry accelerate mainstream adoption?
The opinions are split on this one. A small majority blindly believes in the ability of the adult industry to drive new technologies into mainstream acceptance. They say it has historically proven to shape mainstream adoption of tech. And history tends to repeat itself.
A small minority says that the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency is more likely to force adoption within the adult entertainment industry. These people say that we would have already seen a big shift towards accepting crypto back in April 2017 if that was true.
What elements of Sex Tech (apart from payment-processing) will be influenced the most by the Blockchain revolution?
These are the Areas our respondents predict the most change for:
- Streaming Video
- Content hosting
- Distribution Optimization for Toy Companies
- Anonymous browsing and uploading
- Cloud computing
In regards to cloud computing, one respondent even went as far as to say that blockchain could help create 3d graphics on the fly for VR MMORPGs in the near future.
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What creative use of Smart Contracts can we expect from the Adult Industry
The participants of our survey wanted to see the following things happen:
- Use of Smart Contracts to personalize content
- Efficiently unlocking bonuses for cam performers when conditions are met
- Fee-free tipping, so both the performer and the consumer get more for their effort and money
- Tipping straight from your wallet
- Fraud prevention, stopping customers from claiming refunds after making a cam performer entertain them, just to get a free fap in.
- Having consumers earn coins with every purchase as a loyalty program
But by far, the most popular idea was "Crowdfunded Porn". People want to see producers use blockchain processing to create formats for Adult Content that their viewers actually want to see, and then have them crowdfund these with either a Kickstarter or ICO style approach.
What is the most naïve or dangerous application of blockchain that can be seen so far in the adult industry?
Performers fear that sites who accept crypto are not educating their content creators on how to profitably exchange their crypto tips into a fiat currency. It's very dangerous in a market as volatile as this, not to know how to lock in your profits. Performers would like to see the sites they are active on, educating them or only accept payment-processing options that instantaneously convert crypto into fiat.
Consumers fear that there will be an increase of ICO's that are not tech or content driven, that will pollute the space and potentially fraud fans out of their crypto or fiat.
The need for a predator-free environment is very real.
Producers agree on the fact that fee structures are now not as transparent as they should be. How much are content distributors scraping off the top of fees?. How much is lost in conversion between crypto and fiat? Continuing down this path could prove dangerous for the distributors as producers would become less willing to work with them over time.
Will blockchain improve the offline distribution of hardware in the adult industry?
All the respondents said yes to this question. Not everyone was sure how. But some of them said it would greatly aid in fraud-proofing the distribution process.
Creating immutable logs, would help to prevent hacks, and "after the fact" mutations in shipping data. Making sure that no containers of goods can go "missing in excel". It can help with tracking protocols and quality assurance (have products been opened and tampered with? yes or no?).
It would also cut out loads of administrative middlemen, creating lower end-user prices or larger margins for the manufacturers.
Noteworthy respondents
We are grateful for all participants in our survey. But some names jumped out at us, and we asked for permission to share their names in this blog post.
We feel these people are visionaries in the space and that their opinions and views gave some gravitas to the results of this survey.
Daniel França - Data Architect at FeelRobotics
Lindsey Banks - Brand Ambassador at Flirt4Free
William Bentley de Vogelaere - Product and Strategy manager at Spankchain
Jack - CEO at VRPornJack
Want to Weigh in?
We are continually getting new survey results and we will amend this article from time to time, to reflect new interesting views and predictions.
If you want to give your opinion and input on our survey that would be much welcomed indeed.
Artwork by:
Anthony van Hamond
Music by:
Abel & Faberyayo
