Jesus no, paying with crypto because payment processors act like censors is correcting one wrong with another. It would artificially inflate crypto, which would be very suspicious, like putting tariffs on mature content.
Everyone talking about crypto is forgetting that there are payment providers processing Visa and MC for adult content. The difference is that PayPal and Stripe (and others) aren't setup to process those kinds of transactions. Payments need to be coded properly. The issue wasn't that Visa/MC won't process adult content (they 100% will), but you can't sell adult content when you don't code it as adult content.
Finding a processor that specializes in that is what they should do. This will allow them to process adult content on those processors properly coded. Of course, those processors generally charge a higher amount because of the greater risk.
But none of this is new or crazy. It's decades old, and shouldn't be a surprise to anyone wanting to conduct business in the adult space online.
This whole payment processor as paid content censor system is absurd. Don't need payment processors looking over everyone's shoulder "oh man you shouldn't deal with them ... or buy that".
Local sword making company ran into getting blacklisted by processors. These guys are professionals and well known in their business, not some randos. But when it comes to payment processors everyone is small potatoes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIcohyT5Dc
They couldn't even find out why it happened. The amount of work they had to do to just get a clue on what was going on was incredible. It took in person visits and directed from bank to bank to bank to understand what happened. And as far as I know they still haven't found out the root cause. They managed to get some work around but who knows how long that will last.
These processors are not content curators / investigators and they're clearly not putting much effort into actually investigating or allowing anyone to dispute these things through a reasonable process.
There's no sense to these systems, you can just be cut off with no warning and the payment processors have no obligation to care or tell anyone anything.
As I suspected, the problem seems to be Stripe and Paypal as this information comes out.
I kinda feel bad for the call centers and the legion of Reddit/Twitter users who were mislead by a few random meme protest .gif files. But I already learned my lesson back during the Reddit Boston Marathon bullshit: the crowds are stupid. Don't trust the hype, don't trust Reddit Posts that cite other Reddit posts that cite a tweet. Wait for real info.
That being said: Visa and MasterCard have been dicks in the past and somewhat deserve attention. I'm just a bit sad that this particular case is turning out to be more of a Stripe/Paypal issue instead as it means a lot of energy has been misdirected.
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I've still got my Discover card so that if the real call for action ever comes, I'm ready to move off Visa/Mastercard. But people need to seriously fact check their work before hyping an internet brigade next time.
If you operate a payment processor, and are a part of a legal oligopoly, you should be punished for not processing legal transactions - even if people are using your services to buy icky things you don't approve of.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 35.1 ms ] threadhttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/16/coinbase-steps-into-consumer...
Finding a processor that specializes in that is what they should do. This will allow them to process adult content on those processors properly coded. Of course, those processors generally charge a higher amount because of the greater risk.
But none of this is new or crazy. It's decades old, and shouldn't be a surprise to anyone wanting to conduct business in the adult space online.
Local sword making company ran into getting blacklisted by processors. These guys are professionals and well known in their business, not some randos. But when it comes to payment processors everyone is small potatoes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIcohyT5Dc
They couldn't even find out why it happened. The amount of work they had to do to just get a clue on what was going on was incredible. It took in person visits and directed from bank to bank to bank to understand what happened. And as far as I know they still haven't found out the root cause. They managed to get some work around but who knows how long that will last.
These processors are not content curators / investigators and they're clearly not putting much effort into actually investigating or allowing anyone to dispute these things through a reasonable process.
There's no sense to these systems, you can just be cut off with no warning and the payment processors have no obligation to care or tell anyone anything.
I kinda feel bad for the call centers and the legion of Reddit/Twitter users who were mislead by a few random meme protest .gif files. But I already learned my lesson back during the Reddit Boston Marathon bullshit: the crowds are stupid. Don't trust the hype, don't trust Reddit Posts that cite other Reddit posts that cite a tweet. Wait for real info.
That being said: Visa and MasterCard have been dicks in the past and somewhat deserve attention. I'm just a bit sad that this particular case is turning out to be more of a Stripe/Paypal issue instead as it means a lot of energy has been misdirected.
-------
I've still got my Discover card so that if the real call for action ever comes, I'm ready to move off Visa/Mastercard. But people need to seriously fact check their work before hyping an internet brigade next time.
Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44783566 - Aug 2025 (565 comments)
Clarifying recent headlines on gaming content - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44760843 - Aug 2025 (24 comments)
Visa and Mastercard are getting overwhelmed by gamer fury over censorship - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44713414 - July 2025 (586 comments)
Steam, Itch.io are pulling ‘porn’ games. Critics say it's a slippery slope - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44685011 - July 2025 (890 comments)
Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44679406 - July 2025 (250 comments)
Games: No sex, please. we're credit card companies - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44675697 - July 2025 (52 comments)
Itch.io: Update on NSFW Content - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44667667 - July 2025 (323 comments)
Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Steams new censorship rules - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44636369 - July 2025 (162 comments)
Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44606184 - July 2025 (905 comments)
We need to avoid parallel economies at all costs.