Civitai, the world’s largest repository of AI generation models, will introduce Crypto Payments this month after losing its credit card processor with explicit content that AI generated, supporting purchases, a platform’s virtual non-Web3 token.
AI model sharing sites accept USDC, USDT, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu through payment processor NowPayments. Bitcoin was excluded due to high trading fees.
“We look forward to introducing crypto payments for buzz, which gives us a secure and convenient way to get the topics we need,” Civitai wrote in the implementation guide. Published May 22nd.
The platform recommends USDC on the base network and does not charge gas fees and process transactions in 15-25 seconds. However, Crypto transactions are valid and do not need to be performed through Coinbase.
Users can complete the transaction within minutes, and buzz is usually available immediately after checking the blockchain. Civitai recommends Coinbase for ease of use, but the system supports most Ethereum compatible wallets.
Civitai charges a flat rate of $1 for crypto purchases. This is significantly lower than traditional payment processing costs.
“We use a secure processor to process cryptographic payments, but wallet information is not stored on Civitai’s servers,” the company explained.
The Crypto rollout took place after Civitai’s credit card processor ended service on May 23rd.
“Recent policy updates have not been sufficient to satisfy previous processors,” the company said, adding that it continues to negotiate with new credit card providers who are willing to handle NSFW content under certain guidelines.
There’s a lot of pressure
This is not the first time a payment processor has hit the NSFW business.
Civitai is on the growing roster of the adult entertainment business that has embraced crypto to avoid payment processor restrictions. This shift reflects the systemic challenges facing NSFW platforms with traditional financial services.
Porn hubs are probably the most popular case of crypto adoption in the adult industry, and that happened After losing support for Visa and MasterCard December 2020. The platform primarily accepts premium service Bitcoin. 29 other options are available through the CryptoPayments processor Aylo.
However, LiveJasmin has begun accepting bitcoin 2015will be one of the first major adult sites to accept codes. The webcam platform cited the “decentralized anonymous nature of Bitcoin, appealing to privacy-focused users, according to a press release at the time.
SpankChain has launched SpankPay, a dedicated cryptocurrency payment processor for adult content providers.
The blockchain-based platform used to provide low-cost transactions is specifically designed to address the traditional financial restrictions facing the adult industry.
However, due to regulatory pressure, teams I shifted that focus From building products to advocacy and strategic collaborations last week.
Payment processors frequently limit NSFW companies due to regulatory pressures and reputational concerns.
Mainstream providers such as PayPal, Stripe and Square usually ban adult content entirely, but Visa and MasterCard allow member banks to reject such businesses, often labeling businesses as “business.”High risk. ”
This is also true for AI content.
“Some payment companies label the high risk of Generation – AI platforms, especially when allowing mature content generated by users, even when it’s legal and moderated,” Civitai said previously. Blog post. “The cutoff was enforced by the choice of that policy, not what the user did.”
Civitai’s 3.2 million users can now purchase Buzz using Crypto, but the platform searches for new credit card processors.
The company recently implemented a more stringent content policy and banned actual similar content to comply with the US Please defeat it and European Union AI Act.
The Take It Down Act, signed this month, can punish unconsensual intimate images that are not punished in prison for up to three years. The law requires the Platform to remove such content within 48 hours of notification.
“We are now facing an increasingly strict regulatory environment. We are evolving rapidly across multiple countries,” Civitai said. I wrote it When describing content policy changes.
The platform has removed deepfakes of celebrities, fan art depictions and other types of twists to keep them up to complying with the new law.
The response to the adoption of crypto as a business savior is mixed, with some users and praise Move while others are Sceptical.
Some users have turned their attention to content archives through communities such as R/Civitaiarchives and alternative platforms. Most of our user base remains loyal to this day.
edit Sebastian Sinclair