Why I'm Telling All Sex Workers to Use Crypto

My favorite way to receive deposits and payments as an independent escort (and occasional content creator) is through privacy-preserving cryptocurrency.

I know cryptocurrency has a reputation problem. In many situations, it’s deserved. Most of the “crypto” sector isn’t relevant, helpful, or even intended for us as sex workers. However, there is a sliver of really powerful stuff in its practical use.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to that specific, powerful slice of crypto while helping you understand what kinds of cryptocurrency “hype” to avoid.

Talking about either money or technology can bring up many legitimate anxieties. If that rings true for you, it may help if you don’t think about cryptocurrency as a new technology you have to learn, but rather as a foreign currency you could use when traveling to a different country.

How cryptocurrency helps sex workers reduce risk

If you've been escorting for a while, you probably know that participating in even legal forms of sex work (online modeling, content creation) risks your safety. When we accept payments from clients via traditional payment cards, apps, or even physical cash, we take risks.

Apps have been known to "dox" us, revealing our legal identity to clients. Often, our accounts get banned, and our funds in them frozen or confiscated for ‘violating’ Terms Of Service agreements. After the fact, chargebacks can cost us real money and can even claw back funds we’ve already withdrawn to our bank accounts. Even paper money can be counterfeit, and we might not know until we try to spend it.

Using cryptocurrency solves every one of these problems for me.

Why I like using cryptocurrency

Armed with an understanding of how to safely use privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies, along with just a couple key facts needed to know which sites, apps, and other tools to avoid, using cryptocurrency gives me financial superpowers.

I realize it may sound too good to be true, but it’s undeniably improved my life as a sex worker. Shielded privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies and apps give me a payment system that cannot ban me from using the currency or its app because it doesn't know who I am. That also means it can’t dox me to a client!

Since a privacy-preserving cryptocurrency can’t see the amount being paid, there are also no limits to how much I can be paid in a single transaction, which has made longer, more lucrative bookings particularly easy. When I’ve toured internationally, there have been no issues with borders because the currency isn’t national, it’s global. Best of all, my net worth remains utterly secret to others, even while I am spending some of it.

Why my clients also like using cryptocurrency

My clients also benefit from adopting cryptocurrency, even if they don’t need to use its more discreet aspects. For one thing, direct crypto payments are cheaper for them because the payment bypasses platform fees. It’s also way more discreet, making the anxiety of certain line items on their financial statements disappear. As more familiar apps begin to support cryptocurrency options, most clients don’t need to switch apps to pay me, even if they’re using ones I’ve already been banned from. Personally, I like to further incentivize clients to use various privacy-preserving technologies with me, so I offer occasional discounts for doing so.

These are all reasons I prefer cryptocurrency payments, even over cash. My clients tell me they prefer it, too!

Avoiding price volatility

One common concern I hear about using cryptocurrency is that “crypto is volatile.” This means the value of a given currency or “coin” changes quickly relative to the local government’s currency.

This is called price volatility and it’s a measure of the currency’s value over time. It’s just like comparing the price of the US Dollar against the Euro or the Argentinian Peso, for example, which are values that also change relative to each other from day to day.

Since volatility needs time to take effect, a fantastic defense against having it go the “wrong way” is simply to spend your earnings as soon as you get paid. In other words, if I buy something with crypto immediately after receiving a deposit in crypto, I’m unlikely to be affected by much price volatility. Simply, there wasn’t much time for the value of the coin to change before I spent my money.

When I began incorporating cryptocurrency into my business, I did so solely for accepting deposits. These small amounts were easy to spend immediately. Later, as I became more convinced that cryptocurrency would be a cornerstone of my financial freedom, I began accepting full payment in cryptocurrencies, too.

Notably, price volatility also has its upside. Once you’re able to accumulate enough savings to risk holding onto some amount of cryptocurrency before immediately spending it, you may find that your crypto appreciates (goes up) in value. If it does, you can treat yourself to a “free” lunch when you notice the price spikes.

I set up price alerts on my phone to notify me when this occurs, so I can take advantage of this situation frequently.

Where to (secretly) spend your crypto earnings

At the end of the day, cryptocurrency is still just money. You can’t breathe it. You can’t eat it. No number in a bank account or wallet will keep you alive. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to spend it on something. The cryptocurrency world calls this process off-ramping. That’s why places you can spend cryptocurrency are called “off-ramps.”

The easiest and most private places to spend cryptocurrency are vendors who already accept it. For example, you can use cryptocurrency to pay for your Tryst membership, but many other vendors accept cryptocurrency these days, too.

Perhaps the most familiar off-ramps are gift card vendors. Gift card sites let you buy gift cards by paying in cryptocurrency. In return for spending cryptocurrency, you get discounted store credit at sites and on apps like Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and thousands more. I get everything from hotel bookings, to makeup and beauty supplies, and more from gift cards these days.

Gift card off-ramps rarely, if ever, require you to provide a name for your purchases. Since they don’t care who you are before you make a purchase, finance people say these sites “do not need to follow Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules.” They were among the first places I began spending cryptocurrency regularly.

I use crypto to pay for most things. And it’s not just gift cards.

I can buy airline tickets and pay for my business needs such as email hosting via Proton Mail, VPN services, and a VoIP line, all in cryptocurrency. Likewise for domain name and website hosting services. I even pay for client screening services with cryptocurrency.

In fact, every part of my business can be funded entirely in cryptocurrency, often without ever leaving a digital trace linking my purchases to my real-world identity.

There are also safer ways to bridge your cryptocurrency assets to more traditional payment systems. In my next article, I’ll show you how to secretly fund reloadable debit cards and share some recommendations so you can also spend your crypto earnings anywhere “all major credit cards” are accepted!

Real benefits for clients and providers

When used correctly, privacy-preserving cryptocurrency can be a financial superpower. Taken together, using wallet apps and Visa integration, I no longer need a bank account (I do have one, but I don't use it very much.) This fact alone is a game-changer for anyone who has suffered from having been de-banked, or who struggles to keep bank accounts open due to other forms of financial discrimination.

Having learned what I need to know to stay safe while navigating the financial system, I'm now able to receive deposits from clients reliably, remotely, and privately. I can pay for my groceries, travel, and business expenses in cryptocurrency, or with a crypto-backed yet otherwise traditional Visa card.

Chargebacks have become a thing of the past. I'm now immune from payment app bans. No cryptocurrency network knows I'm the one transacting on it. Nobody on the Internet can see my net worth, when I'm being paid, or how much I'm making. I’ve even standardized my clients' payment process for them, reducing friction in the booking process, and protecting both their privacy and mine at the same time.

For sex workers, especially those of us who operate in hostile legal jurisdictions, cryptocurrency is fast becoming a necessity, and one I'm actually happy to see more of us adopt!

If you haven't yet explored how to adopt privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies in your business, now’s the time. Please try it out, and nudge your clients to use privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies with you. I’m also happy for anyone with questions to reach out to me directly.

In my next article, I’ll show you how you can immediately start accepting cryptocurrency deposits and payments in your business.

A Note to Our Community: The information in this article is general information and opinion only. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any cryptocurrency or other asset. Nothing here takes account of your personal circumstances.

Laws vary significantly by country and jurisdiction. If your work or financial activities may carry legal risk where you are, do your own checks, consult a legal professional if it's safe for you to do so, and always move in ways that protect you. To the extent permitted by law, we accept no responsibility for any loss arising from reliance on this article.

The Tryst.link blog is not affiliated with or endorsing any sites, brands, or products linked here. We share resources only where we feel they might add real value to sex workers’ knowledge or autonomy—and when the benefit feels worth the risk. This industry isn’t built to protect sex workers, and not every platform has good intentions. Harm reduction isn’t blind trust. Ask who owns it, who it serves, and whether the info is current. Do your own checks and move in ways that protect you.

For more on crypto, see Violet Rollergirl's article How Cryptocurrency Helps Protect My Privacy as a Sex Worker and for info on paying for Tryst credits with bitcoin, see Ask Ada: What’s the Best Way to Pay for TLC with Bitcoin?

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