Pornhub wants to pay cryptocurrency to users for watching porn
The adult entertainment industry has long been an early technology adopter. And now, Pornhub subsidiary Tube8 is looking to reward porn-watching with cryptocurrency. Yes, Tube8 wants to pay cryptocurrency tokens to its users for watching porn. Having said that, a successful tokenization of Tube8, with its 150 million monthly page visits, could usher in the long-awaited mass adoption of cryptocurrency. Here are the details.
Tube8 plans to tokenize its platform by 2018 end
In an exclusive note to TNW, Tube8 revealed that it had entered into an agreement with cryptocurrency Vice Industry Token (VIT), and has plans to tokenize its entire platform by the end of the year. Once Tube8 has been tokenized, users will be able to earn VIT tokens for streaming and interacting with Tube8 videos. What's more? There'll be no fees on token usage.
VIT will change the way users spend time on porn
"VIT offers Tube8 a way to reward their viewers by monetizing content...Whereas before users would log in, watch a few videos and leave, VIT incentivizes them to create an account and interact with the content to generate Vice Tokens," said Tube8 spokesperson Robin Turner.
Details about Tube8's reward system is unclear as of now
Tube8 didn't share the exact details of its cryptocurrency rewards system. For instance, it's unclear how many tokens a user can amass. However, it would be safe to assume that Tube8 will set certain reward limits for each user to prevent them from gaming the system for profits. Yet, what is notable is Tube8's novel, tech-driven approach towards revamping its user engagement model.
Tube8's decision to partner with VIT remains questionable
Another thing that's questionable is Tube8's choice of partnering with VIT. While VIT has pegged a number of deals with even Playboy, it's worth noting that Playboy recently sued VIT for failing to deliver on pretty much everything it had promised about cryptocurrency integration on Playboy's online pornography platform.
Massive tech hurdles need to be overcome for tokenizing Tube8
Additionally, there are massive tech hurdles to be overcome if Tube8 and VIT are to achieve their dream. Tokenizing Tube8, with its 10 million user base and 150 million monthly page visits, would require VIT to handle massive amounts of transactions per second, a feat that is nigh impossible on certain blockchain platforms like Ethereum. But, Tube8 and VIT claim to have a solution.
Tube8 claims VIT can handle 100,000 transactions per second
VIT was initially based on the Ethereum blockchain that could handle 15 transactions per second. However, Tube8 and VIT claim that the latter has successfully transitioned to the Graphene blockchain that can purportedly handle 100,000 transactions per second. While this claim can't be verified as of now, if true, it would indeed be a major boost for Tube8's tokenization ambitions.
Successful Tube8 tokenization could pave the way for larger things
While Tube8 isn't the first pornography company to dabble in cryptocurrency payments, its plans to tokenize the entire platform is grand. Earlier, Tube8 owner Pornhub had integrated cryptocurrency payments on its website, but didn't tokenize its platform. If Tube8's tokenization plans go smoothly, it could pave the way for tokenizing the entire Pornhub Network, thereby driving mass adoption of cryptocurrency.
How the Pornhub Network could drive mass adoption of cryptocurrency
The next question is, how? Well, while Tube8 rakes in 150 million monthly visits, Pornhub-owned YouPorn and RedTube see 360 million and 510 million monthly visits, respectively. As for Pornhub itself, this number is a whopping 2.8 billion. Given these numbers, cryptocurrency payments for watching porn on the Pornhub Network could actually usher in real mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.
