Business Insider reported today that the Playboy media empire will begin to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The first product that can be purchased will be Playboy TV which will accept cryptocurrencies for premium content. Playboy will have its own wallet which will be used to purchase digital media and online games. This wallet is expected to be available by the end of 2018. The wallet will work with various tokens like bitcoin, Ether, and it will also work with the Vice token.
Playboy’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “This innovation gives the millions of people who enjoy our content, as well as those in the future who participate in our casual gaming, AR and VR platforms, more choices with regard to payment and in the case of VIT, an opportunity to be rewarded for engaging with Playboy offerings.”
Playboy print magazine has struggled to make any profit in recent years even though it is the one that broke the adult entertainment industry-wide open starting in the 50s. But perhaps Playboy is betting on cryptocurrencies to turn that trend around. These days lots of porn is free so it may still be difficult for Playboy to earn much from jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon but Playboy’s high name recognition and branding should help.