Bitcoin Forum

i know we have btc cams which are mildly popular (at least within the community?), but how about the world's actual oldest profession?

is there anything that bitcoin makes safer, easier and more efficient for this industry?

discuss.

Go ask one if she takes bitcoins and tell us lol JK I guess it could work like silk road lmfao

a single-confirmed transaction would sure be nicer than counterfeit dollarbills.

I'm sure some of them could wrap their head around bitcoin, but perhaps uptake would happen at 'brothels' first, where some tech saavy person could organize it ? After all, then you wouldn't have that odd statement from this odd country on your credit card bill. In some countries, like Norway, it's a crime to purchase sex, even if it's done abroad.

I'm not sure why it would offer much advantage over cash.  Bitcoin is useful for the sale of illicit goods because it enables a remote transaction.  You don't have to meet the seller.  With prostitution, I'm pretty sure "meeting the seller" is the point.  I suppose it might be useful from a prostitute's perspective to reduce the risk that you're robbed by your client.  Prostitutes can always demand payment up front, but with cash it's possible that the client could try to steal the money back after the services have been rendered. (And unfortunately, prohibition always increases the risk of violence and theft because it makes it difficult or impossible for the victims to use the police or the courts to seek redress.)  With Bitcoin, the payment can be sent to an account that's stored offline in a remote location. That way it's impossible to return the money immediately even under duress.

+1 same thought I had lol It is prime for police entrapment.

I take BTC for prostitution services.

Does anyone take BTC for donuts?

I don't think it's an attractive alternative compared to cash. I think the best use for bitcoin, are
gambling, illegal goods, money laundering, adult film/product industry. Currently bitcoin do not offer
a compelling reason for any other industries to switch.

I'll take a D bust redhead from Ireland/Scotland for BTC. Make it happen.

do prostitutes have to worry about getting caught doing the monetary exchange?

What about using an escrow?

Can btcrow attend the 'meeting' to ensure a safe transaction?  ;D

Depends if I'm hungry or not I guess.

How much we talking here?

Depends on the country. In Canada it's not illegal to take money for sex... the part the is illegal is the "solicitation", ie discussing the price etc. Also, if it's done in the woman's house, they get them for running a "common bawdy house". Pretty messed up laws, but what do you expect.

I also don't see much value in bitcoin for most prostitutes, at least until there is a solid debit card. However as someone mentioned, the idea of prepaying in a nonrefundable way would prevent robberies, so there's that. Higher end brothers/services could use it to avoid taxes.

To answer the OP, I think so.

Secrecy is often of importance to both parties, perhaps one more so than the other.

BTC provides this.

You might be in and out before the first confirmation  :P

In most places in the USA, they get around the prostitution part by classify it as escorting. They aren't having sex for money, you are paying for the companionship/time.
During that companionship/time anything can happen between consenting adults. But if you agree on a service(IE Sex,etc) ahead of time its illegal.
The Money transfer is also handled differently, you will never see them handle money. They will ask you to put in someplace visible and spread it out(no envelope) so they can verify the amount.

My information is from a childhood friend who's ex-wife ran a escort company

At the conference one of the speakers mentioned how so far BTC hasn't proved popular for prostitution, but rather then cash a popular currency for escorts/prostitutes is Amazon Gift Certificates. 

I had this generally same idea but it would apply to strippers. Each stripper would have a QR code on a sticker or something and you could scan and get lap dances.

This is already going on with strippers, they have a little card thats on there ankle that has a QR code to scan.
I think it was called stripcoin or something,I didn't save the url with info about it.

I think cam-girls is going to be the next major Sex related bitcoin area, the cam sites take almost 50% cut of the tips.
The girls already skim tips by using paypal, but most of the time they get there account closed.
They just have to have an exchange open in the Philippians where most of the Asian cam girls are located to help them cash out.

Certainly, but it's not trouble free. Horkabork has already explored this a year ago: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=44664.msg533544#msg533544

Too bad he seem to have left, he definitely wrote the most entertaining posts on Bitcointalk.

QR code temp tattoos. http://www.barcodeart.com/qr_code_tattoos.html

That was an amazing post.

I found the subject line hilarious, as though prostitution were an institution that can "benefit".

I don't see how it could, however.  Perhaps not unless it were some sort of plausible-deniability way of exchanging funds... such as the client speaking a brainwallet out loud.

Maybe the client speaks half the brainwallet out loud (which changes for each encounter, and might be an innocuous non-incriminating phrase like "it sure was hot at the mall today"), and the other half (which doesn't change) is a tattoo visible only without underwear, and the prostitute has to go looking for it in order to complete the payment, in which case he can argue that he didn't actually make a payment, she went and helped herself to it or something, trying for some form of legal loophole to undefine the payment as a payment.  This could be called a dickwallet.

"Also, sitting around in a seedy hotel room waiting for transaction confirmations and making small talk with a hooker is rather uncomfortable, mainly because they just won't shut up about Battlestar Galactica. In my experience, hookers who take bitcoins absolutely love Battlestar Galactica."

OMGTWFA

(Oh my god that was fucking awesome)

I know of a phone sex and cam site already taking bitcoin. Any site that takes 50% of your tips is a ripoff. (and btw camming and phone sex are not prostitution)

and to whoever wrote that comment on backwards countries and prostitution - remember it was the progressive era that started the anti prostitution laws.

Well, here in Canada prostitution is legal, so I guess it could.

I'm involved with one of the largest escort websites.
I'll tell you - it's hopeless to get through their "cash-only" mindset.
Though, clients (i.e. guys) will be willing to go "technological",
you will have hard time convincing providers to adopt it. 

Ha! Our company started that...  ::)

... if anybody can think of a way to complete Bitcoin transaction in escort business,
it will be a milti-million dollar payout in no time.

i'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to do over a droid or an iphone.

Well, the question is not really building the payment via Bitcoin,
it's rather figuring out way to get them to use it... so it is convenient and "safe" for them.
(safe = no big brother)

Step 1:
Convince johns to use it, so they can easily can use cash to create Bitcoin balance

Step 2:
Convince providers that it is real money and they can convert them to dollars

Both are difficult.

There seems to be a market for an escrow, perhaps a deep web one. In addition to removing the cash trail, it serves as a way to build reputation and arbitrate disputes. By building trust with long term customers it could also guarantee payment at 0 confirmations.

Any chicks in DC/Virginia/Maryland/West Virginia wanna make some BTC?  ;D

Of course, because I clearly stated what the BTC would be for. /endsarcasm   Try harder next time.

I can see it now.... a QR bitcoin address tattooed on the left butt cheek.

you know, come to think of it, alot of high-end hookers carry around mobile credit card machines.. their pimps are probably all like "yea nigga we high tech like that". problem being credit cards allow for chargebacks, and leave paper trails, so cash is still preferred. bitcoin would almost completely eliminate both of these problems.

isn't there like some big national convention of pimps that happens every year? "playa's ball" or some such? somebody needs to tell the "united federation of pimping" about bitcoin. don't try and introduce it on the hooker level, they'll just get confused by it and question if their respective pimp will get mad at them or not. instead, introduce it on the pimp level. pimps understand business surprisingly well, and bitcoin is great for business. find your local pimps and get them into bitcoin.

It seems so :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Players_Ball

spiccioli

Well, bitcoins have been facilitating nerds making illegal transactions for a little while now, you see it has the benefit that you don't have to meet the person you're doing business with...






At least you won't catch anything

The real question I think should be: can prostitution benefit from bluetooth and bitcoin?

If in Saudi Arabia, bluetooth can be used to flirt and circumvent bans on men and women associating together ( http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/8/12/94234.shtml )... then maybe someone can find a way to use bluetooth as a surreptitious way to make a bitcoin payment to someone unobservably.

Maybe someone makes a decoy Contacts app where the guy asks for the girl's "number" and puts into his "contacts" app... a relatively innocuous exchange that would be entirely ordinary in public... then after the girl's phone vibrates briefly for no reason, the two suddenly go have sex.

What happened was the decoy contacts app invisibly finds and talks via bluetooth to an app on the girl's phone, gets a bitcoin address, makes a payment to it, and an invisible app on the girl's phone buzzes to indicate the payment was received.  The phone number he got was probably not a real telephone number, but was just a step to make sure the guy paid the girl he's talking to and not some random stranger's phone within bluetooth range.  (And, a few digits of the number might stand for the amount to pay.)