Uber For Strippers May Finally Become A Thing, And It Will Use Bitcoin

For all the advantages we attribute to Bitcoin, there is, at least one thing it still can't do. It can't be used in a strip club to make women pretend to like you. Sure, you could technically print out bitcoin onto paper wallets and “make it rain” that way, but I don't think that is going to have the desired effect.

Clover won't exactly do that, but it is a step in that direction. Clover takes the strip club out of the on-demand home erotic live entertainment industry in the same way Uber took cab companies out of the public passenger vehicle industry. They both use technology to connect the people who want a service and the people who want to provide that service and cut out the middle man.

With taxis, it is easy to see how cutting out the middle man is beneficial. There is no reason for them to exist other than to direct the driver to the customer, when technology can do that. It's beneficial for the remaining two parties to cut out the middle man.

Strip clubs do provide a service to the girls they send out to private parties. Besides connecting the two groups, they potentially provide protection. While I am sure that they rarely do as good of a job as they should, and I have heard that in certain situations and with certain clubs, they can actually be detremental to the performer's well-being, it may still be better than nothing in many situations.

Regardless of what you think of the adult entertainment industry and the baggage that comes with it, no one is going to argue that the performers are potentially vulnerable to sexual assault or worse. Technically, that is true with cab drivers, they are sometimes robbed at gunpoint, but I don't think anyone would argue that they have a need for the same level of protection.

Clover looks to fill that role by having the buyers verify their identity and location. They promise to keep that information secure and private, presumably unless a violent crime is committed. But that means you do have to put some trust in them. There is also a button the performers can hold down in order to have the authorities sent to the scene. Although, the performer would obviously need to have the cell phone in close proximity in order for that to work.

The upshot of it all is that the performer only has to share a small portion of the fee paid by the customer to Clover, rather than the industry standard 80 % (according to Clover). With that increased cash, they may be able to hire their own security.

It is highly unlikely that either Apple or Google will take the Clover app on their marketplaces. The Google Play store is a bit of a wild west, so if they market it correctly they might slide under the censors, but it is more probable that we will see the app on a third party marketplace or their website exclusively. That doesn't mean it can't be popular, many underground apps have done quite well without the support of the two big marketplaces.

Perhaps if their bizarre "Hoping to be featured on TechCrunch, The Next Web and C|NEt !" claim come true, their "Coming Soon" to app stores claim won't have to.

For customers, paying for the entire thing can be done in Bitcoin, and a tip can be easily added after the performance. The idea behind using Bitcoin is to increase the anonymity of the transaction, but it will be tracked on the blockchain and there doesn't appear to be any built in coin mixing service. That said, it would still be more discreet than a credit card transaction. If you want to make it rain, you'll still have to use good olde fashion American Greenbacks however.

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