UPDATE (26th September 11:03 BST): Naughty America CEO Andreas Hronopoulos has clarified why bitcoin was reintroduced to the site, citing a boom in demand following its virtual reality products. Read his comments in full here.
Adult entertainment provider Naughty America is once again accepting bitcoin, after the currency vanished from its checkout over a year ago.
The payment option’s reappearance was uncovered by Reddit user Logical007 early this morning. The company has so far been quiet on both the return and its timing.
As before, Naughty America – which operates a network of 45 sites – is accepting payment through merchant processor BitPay. However, one month’s subscription in the currency is $29.95 – 20% higher than Naughty America’s credit card option. Annually, bitcoin users would pay over $48 more than those paying by card.
Killer app?
The currency gained traction early last year with a number of adult entertainment sites, including Playboy Plus, Hustler and Porn.com, adding support for membership and premium access.
“I think it will become an industry-wide thing within 45 to 60 days … Naughty America really sets the bar for where the industry heads,” CEO Andreas Hronopoulos told CoinDesk at the time.
While pundits have suggested porn could be bitcoin’s ‘killer app’, the news comes at a lull in the industry. MindGeek – the company behind some of the adult industry’s highest trafficked sites including YouPorn and PornHub – has yet to roll out bitcoin beyond Playboy Plus and a brief trial on IKnowThatGirl.com.
Sales are also slowing, in line with the majority of bitcoin-accepting brands. For example Porn.com said an initial 50% surge in sales had tapered off to 10% by the following month. Bitcoin’s tech-savvy demographic might be on board, but it appears mainstream consumers still don’t see a compelling reason to use the currency.
MindGeek had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.