It has often been said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” As adult performer Allie Eve Knox can attest, necessity is sometimes the mother of adoption, as well – as in the adoption of new technology.
These days, Eve Knox is strongly associated with cryptocurrency by way of her work with SpankChain, the “cryptoeconomic powered adult entertainment ecosystem built on the Ethereum network.” But in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t all that long ago that she didn’t accept cryptocurrency payments – and was one of many adult merchants experiencing the frustration of dealing with the arbitrary, uneven enforcement of the rules maintained by more ‘mainstream’ alternative payment mechanisms.
“I was camming and complaining that my PayPal account had been shut down and one of my room members suggested that I download an app and receive cryptocurrency instead,” Eve Knox told YNOT. “I had heard about bitcoin a few years prior but never invested so I figured I would give it a shot. I started accepting it for payments and loved it. I became obsessed with watching the market and loved how there were no chargebacks, so my money couldn’t just be taken away, like on some cash apps.”
As Allie sees it, while she’s since come to learn the benefits of accepting cryptocurrency are numerous, the same things which immediately caught her eye – the lack of chargebacks and the ability to pay anonymously – are what makes the technology such an ideal fit for the adult industry.
“The no chargeback feature is huge,” she said. “It keeps people from scamming, like with other payment forms. The anonymous nature of the payment is also super-wonderful. I personally love trading and have used it for investment purposes.”
So, with two such seemingly attractive and market-relevant benefits baked into the fiber of cryptocurrency, why haven’t adult industry merchants and the entertainment consumers they serve rushed to adopt it, far and wide?
“Trust has been a big issue,” Eve Knox told YNOT. “I’ve seen people in the industry refer to it as a scam or fake money. The volatility of the price is concerning to lots of people.”
Still, Eve Knox doesn’t see trust as the primary stumbling block to widespread adoption of cryptocurrency. In a sense, the problem is something far simpler and even more fundamental than the always-important trust factor.
“I think the biggest challenge is learning the new tech,” she said. “You have to open wallets, upload your identification to exchanges, sell the currency for USD. It is certainly much easier to just have a paycheck sent every payday – but the fees in crypto are so much lower than cash apps or other payment channels that I will jump through hoops all day long to get more of my money.”
To get more consumers (and merchants) on board with cryptocurrency, Eve Knox says the challenge is largely a matter of informing people – and making sure that they hear positive feedback from those who have already taken the plunge.
“The biggest thing that we can do to encourage others is to offer education,” Eve Knox said. “If crypto has been positive for you, tell others – and tell others how they can do it too. I’m super thankful to my member for walking me through everything and making things so easy for me.”
In effect, serving as something of an evangelist for cryptocurrency has become part of Allie’s job description, ever since she first signed on with SpankChain over a year ago.
“I came on as the Model Community Manager and helped to build our camsite, Spank.live,” Eve Knox said. “I then started working on the other products that we have been making – the SpankPay wallet for bespoke sites and those looking for a crypto payment solution and our clip site.”
One of the things she likes most about working with SpankChain is as simple as it is uncommon: The company understands the importance of listening to the communities it seeks to serve.
“SpankChain was very smart in that they hired sex workers to tell them how to do the sex worker-focused things and that’s really huge,” Eve Knox said. “The team listens always listens to the things that we want and need. We are a super small team that is making some really cool products and I’m so very thankful that I get to work with such smart and driven people.”
It’s a trait that Eve Knox – an outspoken critic of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (“SESTA”) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (“FOSTA”) – wishes she could say is shared by the men and women who comprise Congress.
“FOSTA/SESTA has been absolutely horrible,” Eve Knox told YNOT. “Those bills have been responsible for so many deaths, so much violence, and so many more people being put in unsafe positions. The politicians that voted for them literally have blood on their hands and I hope that they reconsider their stances on these (laws), pronto.”
It’s not that Eve Knox has a problem with the intent of the legislation (“trafficking is horrible,” she said), it’s the execution, application and unintended consequences of FOSTA/SESTA that she decries.
“Unfortunately, these bills have done more harm than good. I hope that when politicians finally say enough is enough and make some decisions to actually help end human trafficking, they ask the sex workers how to help,” Eve Knox said, adding the sex worker rallying cry: “Nothing about us without us.”
Fans who may worry that her other occupations and passions might lure Allie away from performing altogether can rest easy; Eve Knox told YNOT she’s actively shooting “a ton of new content for one of my new clip sites.”
Allie also hinted that fans may soon see her in a different sort of entertainment context – and on different screens of radically varying dimensions.
“I am working on my feature film that will be out by the end of the year, and I am also working with a really great team on a possible project for mainstream TV.”
Eve Knox didn’t offer any additional details on those film and TV projects, so we’re destined to wait and see along with everyone else. In the meantime, fans can keep up with Allie’s latest endeavors by following her on Twitter @allieeveknox and checking out her content at AllieKnox.com.
All images provided by Allie Eve Knox
