Banned by Banks, Civitai Pivots to Crypto for AI Adult Content Payments
When traditional finance slams the door, crypto kicks it open. Civitai—the AI platform booted by credit card processors over NSFW image generation—just embraced digital assets as its new payment rail.
No more begging permission from moralizing payment gateways. Now users can anonymously fund their questionable AI artistry with Ethereum, Bitcoin, or stablecoins. Because nothing says ’adult entertainment’ like blockchain’s unregulated Wild West.
Another win for crypto’s niche as the financial system’s dumpster—where banned businesses go to thrive. At least this time it’s not another rug pull.
Pressures abound
This is not the first time payment processors have hit an NSFW business.
Civitai joins a growing roster of adult entertainment businesses that have embraced crypto to circumvent payment processor restrictions. The shift reflects systemic challenges facing NSFW platforms with traditional financial services.
Pornhub is probably the most popular case of crypto adoption in the adult industry—and it happened after losing Visa and MasterCard support in December 2020. The platform now primarily accepts Bitcoin for premium services with 29 other options available through the crypto payments processor Aylo.
However, LiveJasmin began accepting bitcoin in 2015, becoming one of the first major adult sites to embrace crypto. The webcam platform cited Bitcoin’s "decentralized, anonymous nature" as appealing to privacy-focused users, according to press releases from the time.
SpankChain launched SpankPay, a dedicated cryptocurrency payments processor for adult content providers.
The blockchain-based platform used to offer low-fee transactions is specifically designed to address traditional finance restrictions facing the adult industry.
However, also due to regulatory pressures, the team shifted its focus from building products to advocacy and strategic collaborations last week.
Payment processors frequently restrict NSFW businesses due to regulatory pressures and reputational concerns.
Mainstream providers like PayPal, Stripe, and Square typically ban adult content entirely, while Visa and MasterCard allow member banks to refuse such business, often labeling the business as “high risk.”
And this is the case for AI content, too.
"Some payment companies label generative-AI platforms high risk, especially when we allow user-generated mature content, even when it’s legal and moderated," Civitai said in a previous blog post. “That policy choice, not anything users did, forced the cutoff.”
Civitai’s 3.2 million users can now purchase Buzz using crypto while the platform searches for new credit card processors.
The company recently implemented stricter content policies, banning real-person likeness content to comply with the U.S. Take It Down Act and European Union AI Act.
The Take It Down Act, signed this month, makes publishing non-consensual intimate imagery punishable by up to three years in prison. The law requires platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of notification.
"We’re now facing an increasingly strict regulatory landscape—one evolving rapidly across multiple countries," Civitai wrote in explaining its content policy changes.
The platform removed celebrity deepfakes, fan-art depictions, and other types of kinks to maintain compliance with new legislation.
Reactions to the adoption of crypto as the savior of the business have been mixed, with some users praising the MOVE while others are skeptical.
Some users have turned to archiving content through communities like r/CivitaiArchives and alternative platforms. The majority of the user base remains loyal until now.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
