Pornhub, the world’s biggest porn site, has recently added two new cryptocurrencies as payment methods: Tron’s TRX token and ZenCash (ZEC). A look at the website’s sales pages now shows a “use cryptocurrency” button, instead of “pay with Verge.”
The announcement reveals that MindGeek’s partnership with Verge (XVG) wasn’t exclusive, as opposed to what was initially revealed. A video published on Pornhub’s official YouTube account seemingly mocks the slogan used in its initial partnership with XVG. It’s titled “Pornhub and TRON (TRX): The Future Has Come… Again.”
Pornhub and TRON (TRX): The Future Has Come…Again. @tronfoundation accepted soon on Premium pic.twitter.com/EzGRjSsJTH
— Pornhub ARIA (@Pornhub) June 27, 2018
Brazzers, another website owned by MindGeek, has also recently tweeted out that it accepts ZenCash and Tron’s TRX token, which implies the cryptocurrency’s founder Justin Sun might’ve secured a partnership with the company, without going through the crowdfunding effort the XVG community endured.
Notably Sun has also recently acquired BitTorrent, the company behind popular torrent client uTorrent, which claims to have over 170 million users. These deals are likely being made to expand Tron’s reach and legitimize it, as Pornhub claims it has over 90 million daily users.
According to Variety, Pornhub’s VP Corey Price stated:
Decentralized payment systems have continued to grow in popularity, and cryptocurrency adoption is exploding across a broad economic spectrum. Today, cryptocurrencies are especially viable in the adult entertainment industry because they are privacy-centric and incorporate more anonymity tools than traditional tender.
Tron’s price wasn’t positively affected by the announcement, as it’s down by 3.4 percent in the last 24-hour period, along with most other top cryptocurrencies. It’s currently trading at $0.038, according to CryptoCompare data.
Tron’s mission is to build a “truly decentralized internet and its infrastructure. The TRX token, according to its whitepaper, is set to be used to pay for content on the network. It was born as an ERC-20 token, and has recently launched its mainnet The cryptocurrency has recently made headlines after crypto derivatives exchange BitMex added TRX futures contracts “due to popular demand.”
Mindgeek’s websites aren’t the only ones in the adult industry accepting cryptocurrency payments. As covered, VRPorn.com quietly added Litecoin payments earlier this year.