Playboy Gets Played By Canadian Blockchain Firm

BTC Wires: Playboy Enterprises, the international media and lifestyle company from Beverly Hills, has filed a lawsuit against Global Blockchain Technologies (GBT) from Canada for failing to keep up their end of an agreement with Playboy to integrate blockchain into the latter’s online media networks. As per reports by the Los Angeles Times, the aggrieved party has filed the lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, bringing charges of fraud and contract breach against GBT. The contract, the breach of which has become the bone of contention, had been finalized between the two firms in March 2018.

According to the terms and clauses of the contract, GBT was supposed to integrate the Vice Industry Token (VIT) on Playboy-owned media websites. Playboy has now alleged that the Canadian blockchain firm failed to complete this integration and had also failed to make a payment of $4 million that had been stipulated in the agreement. Playboy has moved the court demanding compensation for being short-changed like this by the blockchain company. However, the exact amount of the compensation sought has not been revealed to the general public. GBT, however, has dismissed the entire affair as nothing more than the usual friction between two partnering businesses, even going on to remark that the allegation of fraudulence is “frivolous”. In fact, the company is confident of fielding a strong defence if push comes to shove and the case is played out in open court without any settlement between the two parties.

Playboy had announced plans for the creation of an online wallet compatible with cryptocurrencies, especially the VIT, back in March. The wallet was meant to allow customers to make payments via crypto and support the VIT as well. In May, GBT confirmed that it was indeed working on the same, in addition to designing an interface for several platforms. The token raised $22 million in Ethereum within a day of its ICO going live and is used for rewarding users based on the kind and number of content they watch on Playboy’s online blockchain-run platform.

The adult industry scene has begun embracing the cryptocurrencies gradually with PornHub adopting the digital currency Verge (XVG) to accept payments via the coin. As PornHub CEO has noted, the adult industry has always taken initiative in adopting new technology, ranging from VHS to VR Goggles and PornHub or Playboy have continued the tradition. We can only hope the dispute between Playboy and GBT is resolved soon enough for there to be no damage to the faith dividend existing between the adult entertainment and blockchain industries.

Kapil Gauhar

Kapil Gauhar is the founder of Blogger’s Gyan. He is a Passionate Blogger, a Big Thinker and a Creative Writer. His passion for doing friendship with words and letting people know about the wonders of the Digital World is what motivates him to take writing as a career.