As the world struggles with the ongoing COVID-19 virus outbreak, people are trying to get used to living indoors. The world of online entertainment experienced a massive boost in terms of a raised demand, as streaming and gaming services increased in popularity. Content providers like Netflix recorded a surge in China and Italy, just days after the countries entered a never-witnessed before lockdown.
As the world of online entertainment flourishes amid the global crisis, so does the adult entertainment industry. Business Insider recently reported one of the leading adult content providers, PornHub, to be going up with 11,6% in traffic globally. Also, countries with a positive stance on the sex industry – like Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, showed a boost in traffic amid the lockdown.
However, the correlation between the porn industry and the crypto sector became more evident, as cryptos saw a by-proxy benefit from the aggregated surge in demand for online adult content.
Crypto payments processing company CoinGate reported an increase in crypto transactions in March, related to adult content websites. Some of the leaders in live webcam shows, LiveJasmin and ManyVids, managed to attract 8% and 17% increases in purchases, respectively. Other websites reported up to 35% increase in demand.
The crypto payment processor also noted that the Forex markets correspond to the COVID-19 outbreak as well. CoinGate reported a 13% increase in Bitcoin (BTC) transactions, Ethereum (ETH) transactions jumped with 14%, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) recorded a 12% increase in the total number of transactions.
“People may start relying on the usage of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies more often. The traditional financial market showed it’s not immune to higher volatility than Bitcoin, for example.” CoinGate reported.
Despite the positive outcomes in terms of using cryptocurrencies as payment methods and the increase in transaction amounts, the ground beneath the crypto sector is still shaky. Bitcoin, as well as the entire crypto sector, fell into the whirlpool of financial breakdowns, mostly due to the unstable markets from the COVID-19 virus.
Data from Blockchain.com shows a rough March for the crypto sector. The slump this time was in the number of transactions, as well as the amount of the transactions. In early February, Bitcoin recorded a 7-day average of 321,880 transactions per day. Bitcoin hit a two-month bottom of 251,630, before rebounding to 273,000 as of press time.