Hey TER,  
   
 This is Amelie over at HushSF. I took over from Summer several months ago and I'm finally getting into a good rhythm of running the agency with the inimitable Chloe.  
   
 Today I have a question for you. In honor of our branding --we keep it on the Hush!-- I want to start exploring the world of infosec and crypto. As the madam, on an experimental basis, I'm going to start accepting Bitcoin for a few appointments only, as soon as I figure out how to set up an anonymous bitcoin wallet.  
   
 I've also downloaded both Wickr and Signal for my iPhone and TextSecure for my android phone (which interfaces with Signal, an iPhone only app). All three are apps for encrypted text messaging. After a few weeks of experimentation, they seem to be just as reliable as Google Voice, not perfect but reasonable, and I'm considering encouraging our screened clients to begin contacting us this way.  
   
 The advantage is completely encrypted communications that self-destruct on both sides after a specified period of time (1 hour, 1 day, 1 week). No record on your phone bill of texts sent back and forth. Even your secretary can't get in. No suspicious google voice app on your phone, no need to set up an anonymous gmail account to link to your google voice account (It's extremely difficult to keep google out of the loop these days). The biggest disadvantage as far as I see is that I've got to convince you to download an app. Another thing to keep in mind: my understanding is that Wickr is closed source, so there's no guarantee that a backdoor hasn't been built in for the NSA.  
   
 For my personal encrypted communications I use jabber, but I think that's asking too much, even for you gents.  
   
 What do you think? Advice? Alternate apps? Suggestions?

Accepting bitcoin for sex work
I’ve had a couple ladies message me about bitcoin and how to accept it as sex work payment, so I thought I would write a post. I’m not very bitcoin savvy yet, but I’ll tell you what I’ve got going on to at least get you started, and you can research all the ins and outs of it.  
“Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currency that uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments. It’s a type of alternative currency called cryptocurrency, which uses cryptography for security, making it difficult to counterfeit.” -Investopedia
I’ve got 3 accounts:
-Coinbase.com
This is my bitcoin “bank account”. It is linked up to my actual bank account, so when someone sends me bitcoin, Coinbase can turn it into US Dollars and deposit it into my bank account in 3-5 days. You do not give your Coinbase address to people to receive payments because it is linked up to the real you (use your real email address for this). Only you should know your Coinbase address. Write down your address and password and put that paper wherever you keep your social security card. Because if you lose that, your money is lost and you cannot reset your password!
-Blockchain.info
This is like Coinbase, but not linked to you or your personal stuff at all. You give this address to your clients/SD’s to send you bitcoin. I’m not sure, but I don’t think Blockchain does anything cool except you use it to transfer the bitcoin to your Coinbase account. Don’t lose that password either because it cannot be reset. Use your sexwork e-mail address for this account.
-Gyft.com
This is an online merchant that accepts bitcoin as payment. They sell giftcards for something like 200 stores (Victoria’s Secret, Sephora, Kohls, CVS Pharmacy, Whole Foods, Hyatt, Amazon). You buy your giftcard through Gyft, go to the store and the cashier scans the giftcard on your phone. I haven’t used this yet, but if for some reason I go broke, miscalculate my finances, I can at least buy groceries and toiletries instantly without having to wait 3-5 days for Coinbase to deposit US Dollars into my bank account from my bitcoins.
There’s Apps for all that too.
Unless you plan to become a bitcoin investor by buying other cryptocurrencies or mining for bitcoin (I’ll eventually get into this and tell y'all about it), it may not be a good idea to keep your bitcoin in your Coinbase or Blockchain account. The amount of dollars your bitcoin is worth fluctuates. I have 0.33305 BTC (that number doesn’t change unless someone pays you more, or you spend some of it), at this moment it is worth $222.14 USD. When it was bought for me a couple weeks ago, it was worth just over $265 USD. Bitcoin does not inflate or depreciate, however the amount of dollars it is worth depends on the value of the US Dollar (or whatever money you use in your country). When the dollar goes up, the amount of dollars your bitcoin is worth goes down and vice versa. So, spend it, babies! Unless you’re going to become an investor.
Taxes: Some Bitcoiners will tell you that it is not taxable. Unless you got a good lawyer, pretend it is gambling winnings when you deposit it into your bank account. Because that’s how the IRS sees it. So, either be careful about deposits (like you do when clients/SDs give you cash) or be prepared to pay the IRS their share of your “gambling winnings” when you get audited.
Special thank you to A for getting me started with bitcoin.
Edit May 28, 2014: The IRS sees bitcoin as property, not gambling winnings.

Anonymous said:  
"Can you post more about bitcoin and prostitution? I saw your post on /r/bitcoin and thought you would be a great person to get the word out to your fellow colleagues on how great bitcoin is to accept anonymous payments from your clients. It's fast, cheap for both of you, and irreversible."
I’ve only had two clients pay me with Bitcoin, but I’ll write about those experiences.
So, I put on my rate page on my provider website, that I accept bitcoin. I saw one gentleman maybe 9 months ago who was interested. He was married and wanted a date longer than just an hour, but couldn’t pull off getting more than a couple hundred out of the ATM without his wife becoming privy. I don’t accept Green Dot or Vanilla Visa, so bitcoin was perfect for him. He linked his credit card to his Coinbase account and made sure he had enough BTC on the day of our date. He arrived, and I did my usual hug, kiss, take his coat, offer drink, sit down and then I said I would text him my address. I opened my blockchain app, copied and pasted my address into a text. Then he copied and pasted my address into his coinbase app and sent $XXX worth of BTC to me. Yes, it was transactional, but it worked. If he had lived in my city and saw me more than once, we could have done it more smoothly, perhaps when he pulled into the parking lot of my incall instead.
My other lick that paid with bitcoin was pretty much the same scenario, except I realized that my blockchain app has a QR code by then. So, he just scanned that with his blockchain app, typed in the amount and sent it.
It’s faster and more anonymous than green dot or vanilla visa. And, it is also irreversible. No way to scam you, steal it back, etc. I highly recommend it.