BitPay Payment Processor Begins Enforcing Ban On Prohibited Activities On Its Platform

After updating their terms of use to ban explicit content and other related services on Feb. 2, payment processor BitPay has begun putting the ban into effect this week.

Pornstar and Reddit user Sexy_Saffron posted on the subreddit /r/bitcoin on Feb. 24 an image of an email from BitPay stating that her account would be disabled on April 25th due to the fact that she provides sexually explicit content.

Sexy_Saffron wrote in a comment that the reason for the ban is probably because “as soon as they allow for XXX payments they become a "high risk" payment processor which increases their costs with the fiat world.”

The new Feb. 2 terms of use contains a list of the services that are considered “prohibited activities” by the BitPay platform:

“sales of narcotics, research chemicals or any controlled substances; sales of cash or cash equivalents [...]; the sale or trade of virtual currencies; items that infringe or violate any intellectual property rights; ammunition, firearms, explosives (including fireworks), or weapons [...]; transactions that show the personal information of third parties; transactions that support pyramid, Ponzi, or other "get rich quick" schemes; transactions that are related to cloud-mining; provide credit repair or debt settlement services; any services which compete with BitPay; explicit sexual content; sales of Kratom or Nootropics.”

The following services are allowed if they have been authorized by BitPay in writing: engaging in foreign exchange activities, selling Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware, providing currency services, purchasing lottery contracts, and transactions that involve gambling.

Though Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are often characterized as popular vehicles for money laundering and fraud, a study published in January of this year showed that less than one percent of BTC transactions involve money laundering.