Civitai Turns to Crypto After Credit Card Processor Ban Over AI Explicit Content

Civitai, the world’s biggest repository of generative AI models, introduced crypto payments this month after losing its credit card processor over AI-generated explicit content, offering support to purchase Buzz—the platform’s virtual, non-Web3 tokens.

The AI model-sharing site now accepts USDC, USDT, Litecoin, Ethereum, TRON, Solana, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu through payment processor NowPayments. Bitcoin was excluded due to high transaction fees.

“We’re excited to introduce crypto payments for Buzz. This gives you a secure and convenient way to get the Buzz you need,” Civitai wrote in its implementation guide, published on May 22.

The platform recommends USDC on the Base network, which charges no gas fees and processes transactions in 15-25 seconds. However, any crypto transaction is valid and does not need to be conducted through Coinbase.

Users can complete transactions within minutes, with Buzz typically available immediately after blockchain confirmation. The system supports most Ethereum-compatible wallets, though Civitai recommends Coinbase for simplicity.

Civitai charges a $1 flat fee for crypto purchases, significantly lower than traditional payment processing costs. 

“We use a secure processor to handle Crypto payments, and your wallet info is never stored on Civitai’s servers,” the company explained.

The crypto rollout came after Civitai’s credit card processor terminated service on May 23.

“Recent policy updates were insufficient to satisfy the former processor,” the company stated, adding that they continue negotiations with new credit card providers willing to work with NSFW content under specific guidelines.

Pressures abound

This is not the first time payment processors have hit an NSFW business.

Civitai joins a growing roster of adult entertainment businesses that have embraced crypto to circumvent payment processor restrictions. The shift reflects systemic challenges facing NSFW platforms with traditional financial services.

Pornhub is probably the most popular case of crypto adoption in the adult industry—and it happened after losing Visa and MasterCard support in December 2020. The platform now primarily accepts Bitcoin for premium services with 29 other options available through the crypto payments processor Aylo.

However, LiveJasmin began accepting Bitcoin in 2015, becoming one of the first major adult sites to embrace crypto. The webcam platform cited Bitcoin’s “decentralized, anonymous nature” as appealing to privacy-focused users, according to press releases from the time.

SpankChain launched SpankPay, a dedicated cryptocurrency payments processor for adult content providers.

The blockchain-based platform used to offer low-fee transactions is specifically designed to address traditional finance restrictions facing the adult industry.

However, also due to regulatory pressures, the team shifted its focus from building products to advocacy and strategic collaborations last week.

Payment processors frequently restrict NSFW businesses due to regulatory pressures and reputational concerns.

Mainstream providers like PayPal, Stripe, and Square typically ban adult content entirely, while Visa and MasterCard allow member banks to refuse such business, often labeling the business as “high risk.”

And this is the case for AI content, too. 

“Some payment companies label generative-AI platforms high risk, especially when we allow user-generated mature content, even when it’s legal and moderated,” Civitai said in a previous blog post. “That policy choice, not anything users did, forced the cutoff.”

Civitai’s 3.2 million users can now purchase Buzz using crypto while the platform searches for new credit card processors. 

The company recently implemented stricter content policies, banning real-person likeness content to comply with the U.S. Take It Down Act and European Union AI Act.

The Take It Down Act, signed this month, makes publishing non-consensual intimate imagery punishable by up to three years in prison. The law requires platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of notification.

“We’re now facing an increasingly strict regulatory landscape—one evolving rapidly across multiple countries,” Civitai wrote in explaining its content policy changes. 

The platform removed celebrity deepfakes, fan-art depictions, and other types of kinks to maintain compliance with new legislation.

Reactions to the adoption of crypto as the savior of the business have been mixed, with some users praising the move while others are skeptical.

Some users have turned to archiving content through communities like r/CivitaiArchives and alternative platforms. The majority of the user base remains loyal until now.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair