Hard Times For SpankPay: Sex Worker-Led Crypto Payment Platform Forced To Close Shop

Crypto payment platform SpankPay shut down operations following a breakup with its key partner, payment infrastructure company Wyre. Via their official Twitter handle, the team behind the platform claims that Wyre walked out of their partnership on purpose.

As often in the past, sex workers in the United States faced discrimination from banking institutions. In this case, SpankPay claims that their payment processor, Checkout dot com refuses to work with the adult business industry.

SpankPay is part of the SpankChain ecosystem, a suite of blockchain-based solutions for sex workers. The crypto payment platform offers adult entertainers an alternative to receiving money with digital assets while providing a way to convert them into fiat currency. The team behind the project said:

After a long and difficult consideration, we have decided to close down SpankPay, our crypto payment processor that we built as a safe haven for our community. Rest assured your money is safe and we’ll get it to you as soon as possible. (…) This came as a shock, seeing as our relationship with Wyre had been supportive and respectful up until this point.

Crypto A Solution For Sex Workers?

On January 6, 2023, the crypto payment platform halted fiat payments “indefinitely.” At this time, the project was forced to pause these transactions as the crypto winter affected Wyre; the company winded down to stay afloat.

Transactions resumed, but the company again halted operations as Wyre “targeted” and shut down the SpankChain product’s account. The troublesome relationship imminently ended in today’s announcement.

According to a Vice report, the SpankChain product tweeted the following in February, when Wyre decided to cut them off their payment rails:

Operating SpankPay in a hostile banking environment has always been challenging, but the escalating attacks have become untenable for our small team and the niche market we serve.

For many in the adult entertainment industry, crypto is the only choice to receive payment. Vice mentioned the case of Allie Eve Knox, a sex worker and SpankPay advisor, that was allegedly kicked off every major payment platform in the U.S., including PayPal, Square, CashApp, Venmo, and others.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the only way people like Knox can pay their bills. The sex worker told Vice:

We just have to keep going. And it’s you know, that’s the common song and dance that the whores do. ‘Okay, we were fucked yesterday, we get up tomorrow, and fix it.