The adult-themed SpankPay payment service announced Monday that it would shut down after its upstream payment processor, Wyre Payments, terminated its agreement with the company. Wyre cited “violations of any third-party payment processor or network rules,” in February.
“This was a targeted shutdown by Wyre because their new payment processor, Checkout.com, doesn’t work with adult businesses,” the company tweeted.
This is another big blow for the Adult Industry, and one that places doubt on a lot of crypto-based platforms and payment handlers, given there are still cogs in the chain which rely on conventional banking platforms, and their desire to work with adult or not.
SpankPay has faced an uphill battle to find other service provider options to provide financial services to a business catering to the adult industry.
“We have been looking for options since we got that letter,” SpankPay advisor Allie Knox told Decrypt in an interview. “We looked for other payment processors, and no one wants to take us, or if they want to take us, their fees are insanely high.”
In the tweet thread announcing the closure, SpankPay said it is working on getting users’ money to them as soon as possible.
“With SpankPay being discriminated against due to the nature of our business, we’re as motivated as ever to end these extra-legal censorship practices enforced by financial institutions. Thank you for being part of our community. The fight goes on.”