Australian adult industry startup intimate.io is reportedly planning to launch its digital currency payments gateway. The company also has its own native crypto token called Intimate (ITM) which may be used for “payment, privacy, and reputation” across the adult industry.
“Dozens” Of Adult Websites To Use Intimate’s Payment Gateway
According to Micky, intimate.io’s crypto payment platform will be accessible next week and the new service will be integrated on 60 affiliate or partner websites. For the first time, “dozens’ of adult websites will be accepting bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) through intimate.io’s payment gateway.
Notably, intimate.io recently partnered with 47 adult websites and businesses including Eros association, ClubX, Rendevu, among others. Intimate’s marketing and sales associates have also been promoting the new crypto project at various international events such as the recent Cybersocket Awards held in Hollywood and the Xbiz Awards.
Traditional Payment Processors Charge High Fees For Adult Sites
On January 31, Intimate will launch its first crypto payment gateway on Smilemakerscollection.com, a website that sells adult toys and lubricants. The new payment platform will allow the website to accept payments in bitcoin, ether, binance coin (BNB), and Intimate’s native token, ITM.
Giant payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard consider adult websites to be high risk and usually charge a much higher 5-15% service fee on all transactions made by users through these sites. Other issues related to using most traditional payment processors include suspended transactions, without prior warning. There are also higher chargeback rates of 5-10% for purchases made on adult sites (when using most payment processors).
Cryptocurrency payments may be a preferred method of settling transactions as they might be cheaper and they also provide a certain level of anonymity. Although most adult sites related payments are recorded discreetly (using different names) on users’ bank statements or transaction history, paying with digital currency can offer a greater level of financial privacy.
“Adult Is The Use Case For Crypto”
After launching in late 2017, Intimate’s management has been working to establish business relations with adult services companies throughout the world. Commenting on how cryptocurrencies have many potential uses cases, Reuben Coppa, the founder and CEO at Intimate, remarked:
Adult is the use case crypto has been waiting for. I absolutely think that’s the case and the more time that goes on, the more people in crypto agree with us.
Coppa added that “a few months after” his company started, there were other adult startups that began offering crypto-related services. These include Pinkcoin, Sexcoin, Jizzcoin, among others, Coppa noted. However, he claims that either the development work for these projects has slowed down or that they’ve completely “disappeared.”
At present, Intimate’s most notable competitors include PumaPay, which has partnered with MindGeek-owned PornHub, Vice Industries Token (VIT), a platform that rewards users for watching adult films, and Spankchain, a blockchain developed specifically for the adult industry.
