How Crypto Protects Sex Workers with Ameen Soleimani & Allie Eve Knox from Spankchain

Mr Obnoxious - Un pódcast de Peter McCormack

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Interview location: Ameen - Venice, Los Angeles | Allie - Austin
Interview date: Ameen- Sunday 17th March, 2019 | Allie - Friday 22nd March, 2019
Company: Spankchain
Role: Ameen - Co-founder & CEO | Allie - Head of Outreach

Porn. An industry estimated to be worth up to $97bn a year, yet people don’t like to talk about it.

Porn. An estimated 70% of people watch it, yet people don’t like to talk about it.

Why does an industry with so many customers, which generates so much income fail to protect the workers it employs. From financial censorship to a lack of regulations, sex workers are exploited and abused, but the stigma associated with the industry is increasing the risk to workers; an industry which is legal in many countries.

In this podcast, I interview both Ameen Soleimani and Allie Eve Knox from Spankchain about the issues faced by sex workers and how Spankchain is working to help them.

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Timestamps:

00:05:35: Introduction with Allie Eve Knox
00:06:19: What Bitcoin has enabled Allie to do
00:08:22: Censorship due to associations with the adult industry
00:10:53: Current views on cryptocurrencies in the industry
00:15:48: Allie’s background and how she started in the porn industry
00:19:30: Basics surrounding a typical porn film and whether there are any regulations
00:23:57: Hidden truths of the porn industry and how performers can be exploited or abused
00:30:19: Discussing the issues with MindGeek (Pornhub) and how they changed the industry forever
00:34:21: What would be beneficial solutions for the industry going forward
00:39:15: Final comments with Allie and how to stay in touch
00:41:49: Introduction with Ameen Soleimani
00:42:17: Background to Ameen and SpankChain
00:49:16: What is the current status of the SpankChain project?
00:50:19: Discussing why SpankChain uses a stable coin in their protocol
00:54:44: Uses of the Spank Bank and Booty coins
00:57:05: Delving into myths of the adult industry and ways to protect performers
01:04:24: Discussing the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and SpankChain’s bounties
01:08:28: Benefits between crypto and the industry, including chargebacks, anonymity and fees
01:13:42: Exploring the off-boarding process for entertainers who use SpankChain
01:17:14: Challenges that Ameen and the team are currently facing
01:19:13: Discussing implementing state channels into SpankChain
01:22:40: Final comments with Ameen and how to stay in touch

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Helpful Links:

Connect with Ameen:
- On Twitter @ameensol
- On Medium
- On LinkedIn
- On CrunchBase
- On Github
- At Spankchain

Connect with Allie:
- On Twitter @allieeveknox
- Her website

Mentioned in the interview:
- Decrypt article: The inside story of Spankchain
- Articles in reference to sex workers and censorship:
- How 'sex trafficking' just opened the censorship floodgates
- Online Censorship Is Making Sex Work More Dangerous
- Position on FOSTA-SESTA and its Impact on Consensual Sex Work and the Chilling of Sexual Speech
- First Congress Took Sex Workers’ Websites. Now It's Coming For Their Bank Accounts.
- How the Financial Sector Is Making Life Miserable for Sex Workers
- The Cupcake girls (support for sex workers)
- Mindgeek:
- Glassdoor reviews
- Don’t Let Them Trick You – MindGeek, PornHub, and YouPorn are Bad News
- MindGeek is a cautionary tale of consolidating production and distribution in a single, monopolistic owner.
- Industry problems:
- 2 More Porn Stars Accuse James Deen of Sexual Assault
- The Porn Industry Is Abusive, and These Women Are Telling It Like It Is
- This former porn star is exposing porn’s secrets: and it should make you very, very uncomfortable
- The Porn Myth: Uncovering the Truth about Sex Stars
- Backpage Website Shut Down, Founder Charged With 93 Counts by Fbi in Sealed Indictment
- The electronic frontier foundation sue the US government

Other relevant WBD podcasts:
- WBD067: Gab's Andrew Torba on Why Bitcoin Is Free Speech Money

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