Visa/MasterCard declared adult content to be a high risk for fraud and chargebacks, slapped significant fees on anyone wishing to accept credit card payments for XXX sites or merchandise, and instantly transformed the online payment ecosystem, not just for pornographers, but for X-rated artists, sex toy merchants, and even sex workers trying to raise funds for their medical expenses.

In the decade plus since Visa/MasterCard's decision, things have been a little tricky for anyone hoping to make a living selling sex online. Most mainstream payment processors—think PayPal, Stripe, and WePay, to name a few—decided to avoid dealing with those pesky additional fees by creating a total ban on anything adult.

The headache doesn't end there: Payment processors' bans on adult content have the secondary effect of shutting XXX merchants out from other kinds of sites that use those payment platforms—like, for instance, the crowdfunding sites that many independent creators now turn to to support their work. Which is why a recent announcement from Patreon is such a huge deal.