Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies are being used in US gambling capital Las Vegas, Nevada, with ever-increasing frequency, as entrepreneurs and independents alike seek to take advantage of networked financial anonymity.
While sex workers in the desert mecca of hedonism have been using bitcoin for several years, now businesses, including strip clubs, are implementing the cryptocurrency networks for anonymous transactions.
Recently, Las Vegas's Legends Room strip club announced that it will not only take bitcoin as payment for all services, but will also create its own proprietary cryptocurrency for clients to use to make payments and also to trade or gift among themselves.
By setting up their own cryptocurrency, Legends will enable clients to
use networked anonymous financial transactions tied to the current exchange rate of bitcoins, which can then be rented or sold.
"Liquidity: if you own a membership and want to sell it, you can just sell your tokens in an exchange," a club spokesperson told Ibtimes.com.
Sex workers operating independently are using cryptocurrencies with increasing frequency as well, as the anonymity benefits a trade that finds it necessary to fly under the radar.
"It's convenient because you don't have to worry about being robbed and clients can't do chargebacks like credit cards," one sex worker told Ibtimes.com.
"I've definitely used it while traveling to feel more secure and I know other ladies who do so as well," she added.
Porn industry workers agree, noting that unregulated cryptocurrency transactions allow sex workers to avoid discrimination by financial institutions, an all-too-common occurrence.
Some performers, while accepting payment online in cryptocurrencies, have opted instead for strip club employers to pay them in dollars, but note that individual clients outside of brick and mortar locations prefer to pay anonymously, and when they do, it comes with larger tips.
"Men have an ego and they don't want to feel like they're being charged," one porn worker said, cited by Ibtimes.com, "They want to feel like this is something that could naturally come to them, whether it's a fantasy or not… The guy is thinking this is just a token, it's like a game."
