New House Bill Targets Cryptocurrency Use for ‘Sex Trafficking’

CYBERSPACE—Two months after the controversial FOSTA/SESTA bill became law, two congressional representatives—a Democrat and a Republican—have introduced a bill that explores connections between cryptocurrency use online and sex trafficking. The bill, H.R. 6069, is co-sponsored by Democrat Juan Vargas of California and Pennsylvania Republican Keith Rothfus, who brought the legislation to the House Financial Services Committee last week. Titled the Fight Illicit Networks and Detect (FIND) Trafficking Act, H.R. 6069 passed through the committee on June 15, setting the stage for the full House to take up the measure. But the FIND bill calls only for the Comptroller General of the United States to “carry out a study on how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are used to buy, sell, or facilitate the financing of goods or services associated with sex trafficking or drug trafficking, and for other purposes.” Only after the study is complete—a year from the time the bill passes, assuming that it does—would Congress take action to regulate cryptocurrencies online. The bill could directly affect the porn industry, because cryptocurrencies at least in theory provide anonymity to consumers paying for porn online. In fact, PornHub in April began offering customers the option of paying for the site’s premium tier, and other paid services, with Verge, a cryptocurrency that emphasizes the anonymity of its users. By requiring only a “study” of cryptocurrencies and sex trafficking, the House bill takes a far less restrictive approach, at least so far, than a Senate bill co-sponsored by Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, that aims to shut “traffickers” out of the banking system. “What a lot of organizers are worried about is how these broad anti-trafficking initiatives are often applied in a targeted manner that hurts more vulnerable people rather than helps them,” independent porn producer and sex worker Liara Roux told The Huffington Post. “If this bill is passed in a climate where sex work is so stigmatized that no distinction is made between a trafficked individual and someone who is just trying to survive, you’re just as likely to see vulnerable people’s bank accounts closed as actual traffickers caught.” Cryptocurrency can provide an alternative to the above-ground banking system for sex workers and independent porn producers, but the House bill that passed through committee last week appears designed to lead to a crackdown on use of crypto in the sex industry as well. “For workers in the regulated adult entertainment industry, cryptocurrencies are playing an increasingly larger role as an alternative method of payment,” the cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk wrote, in a report on the bill. “Sex workers have begun to use bitcoin not only as a transactional currency but as a secure global store of value, in which they can hold their retirement savings.” According to the Financial Magnates news site, cryptocurrency began to play an increased role in the adult industry in 2015 whne both Visa and Mastercard banned their credit cards from being used to purchase services on the now-shuttered Backpage.com, the online classified ad site that provided a haven for sex workers. Photo by Pixabay / Wikimedia Commons