WASHINGTON, D.C.—With the United States Senate today debating a controversial bill that purports to curtail online sex trafficking—but which many sex workers say would actually make their jobs more dangerous and difficult—a new report says that the bill also poses a threat to the way many independent porn performers collect their income: cryptocurrency.
After debate on the Senate floor, a cloture vote went in favor, 94-2. Only Ron Wyden and Rand Paul voted "no." The cloture vote, considered a prelude to a final “yea or nay” vote, prevents the bill from being stopped by a filibuster.
According to the cryptocurrency industry online trade publication Coindesk, the new bill—known as FOSTA in the House and SESTA in the Senate—could create a “disaster” for the online sex industry.
FOSTA, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, passed the House on February 27 by an overwhelming vote of 388-25. The Senate version of the bill, called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, is expected to be voted on Wednesday.
Because the bills, which contain largely identical provisions, would make online sites legally responsible for promoting or “facilitating” prostitution, and many online porn sites take payment in cryptocurrencies, users of those digital “coins” could themselves be held liable for “sex trafficking” activities, according to the Coindesk report, which may be read in its entirety at this link.
Given that established financial institutions are legally allowed to discriminate against adult entertainment businesses, many adult content providers have turned to a variety of cryptocurrencies to take payments from fans and customers.
But that method of collecting payments, and maintaining an income for adult businesses, is now under threat would be under threat if the FOSTA/SESTA legislation becomes law, Coindesk reports.
“It gets especially tricky for platforms or services that use cryptocurrency because then token holders could be seen as having an active role in promoting, buying or profiting from the illicit activity,” wrote Coindesk reporter Leigh Cuen.
Janice Griffith, a porn performer and founder of the porn-centric cryptocurrency Spankchain, warned that the legislation poses dangers for “anyone involved in any kind of sex work.”
“Producers can be in trouble for, 'promoting prostitution,' it could also potentially cause a problem for token holders,” Griffith told Coindesk.
Even online forums where users discuss issues with cryptocurrency, such as the popular Bitcoin Talk, could in theory be held liable and open to lawsuits if users discuss paying for sex services with cryptocurrencies, Cuen wrote.
Rather than rely on new, flawed legislation, Griffith says, real solutions to the online sex trafficking problem may come not from passing new laws, but from the technology itself—namely, from the “blockchain,” the digital ledger of every transaction made in a cryptocurrency.
"We have a complete record of everything occurring on the blockchain. With regards to human trafficking," Griffith explained. "I think that blockchain technology could address the issues that this bill is lying about and saying that they want to address."
