The Role of Bitcoin in the Spread of Dark Web Porn

It is no secret that the dark web is full of pornography. Especially the kind of porn you will not easily find on the surface web. The biggest challenge for distributors and consumers of dark web porn was payments since most online payment solutions do not support the deep web. Bitcoin, however, opened up a new avenue for relatively anonymous digital payments, which may have contributed to the growth of illegal pornography on the dark web.

In this article, we delve into the world of deep web porn and discuss bitcoin’s role in it. 

The Cracks of Deep Web Porn

The story about dark web porn is not the most pleasant to tell. The dark web has been a significant pain point for law enforcement and regulators due to its high level of illegal activity.

It works for average tech users who want to keep their identity anonymous by using services that are not readily available to surveillance and monitoring. Journalists, whistleblowers, and investigators use the dark web to share confidential information in a more protected environment.

Regardless, the truth is that a large part of what occurs on the dark web is unlawful activities. One of the most famous criminal activity is the distribution of illegal pornography.

Legal pornography is not totally defined, especially for internet users. Conversely, revenge porn, rape porn, and child porn are illegal and subject to criminal prosecution. Unfortunately, the dark web is littered with this kind of disgusting, gruesome, and illegal pornography. 

The Fight Against Dark Web Porn

Attempts by law enforcement to clamp down on deep web porn reveals the link between activities and Bitcoin as a method of payments. A report by NBC News on how the “Welcome to Video” porn site was taken down shows that the site’s primary source of income was through bitcoin payments.

“Welcome to Video” was a child pornography site on the dark web with over 200,000 videos. The report reveals that about 7,300 bitcoin transactions were made on the site. Viewers on the site could pay for videos with cryptocurrencies, including an annual subscription package that costs 0.03 BTC. 

Fortunately, law enforcement took down the site, which led to the arrest and sentencing of the site owner, Jong Woo Son, and other 300+ users of the website.

Aside from illegal pornography, bitcoin sex extortion has also become rampant on the dark web. Cybersecurity firm Symantec issued a warning in August 2019 indicating that bad actors are making a fortune by targeting people who watch porn but don’t want their loved ones to know about it. According to the same firm, about $1 million had been made by scammers from bitcoin sex extortion emails between January to August 2019.

Why Is Illegal Pornography Popular?

Sites like “Welcome to Video” operate exclusively on the dark web for a reason. The deep web, by its very structure, makes it very difficult to track and follow digital footprints.

Users usually use special technology like Tor browsers, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and cryptocurrencies while accessing the dark web. These technologies offer higher anonymity compared to common tools used by the average internet consumer. Completely shutting down the deep web is almost impossible. Further, accessing the dark web is not a crime in itself.

Beyond dark web porn, Bitcoin is also a major player in the open pornography world alongside other cryptocurrencies.

Crypto-Sponsored Porn

Cryptocurrency payments are also available for legal pornography on the surface web. 

For example, PornHub users can pay for recurring PornHub premium payments using cryptocurrencies such as PumaPay (PMA), Verge (XVG), and Tether (USDT).

Verge was added to PornHub payments in April 2018. The privacy-centric cryptocurrency positioned itself as an anonymous alternative for paying for adult sites.

USD Tether, on the other hand, has a more advanced use case on PornHub. The platform announced in January 2020 that it will allow its models to receive payments in USDT.

Moreover, PayPal blocked performers’ payouts with almost no warning causing bout 100,000 models to have issues with payments.

Several other adult entertainment sites, like CamSoda for example, have also integrated cryptocurrency payments.

Bitcoiners Response to Darknet Porn

An interesting poll run in 2018 on Twitter by Ethereum developer, Vlad Zamfir, asked if people would stop running their Bitcoin node if child porn were encoded in the blockchain. Out of 2,300 votes, only 15% said they would stop running their Bitcoin node in such an instance.

Bitcoin, just like any currency, is not in control of what people decide to use it for. Cash still makes up the number one payment method in the criminal underworld. Cryptocurrency will not replace cash anytime soon.

If anything, the use of bitcoin in dark web porn has helped law enforcement agencies to bring pedophiles to justice. Bitcoin’s blockchain is public and payment flows can lead to the people behind these horrific platforms.