(The lobby of the famous Nevada brothel Bunny Ranch. Credit: Yelp)
A notorious legal brothel in the U.S. says it has accepted bitcoin "in return for sexual services" for the first time ever, The Sun can reveal.
Sex worker Lana West, who works at Nevada's Moonlite Bunny Ranch, exchanged her "intimate" services for thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin.
Lana revealed that the saucy transaction took place at 6:45 pm on Thursday, April 5, just weeks after the Bunny Ranch said it planned to start accepting the virtual currency as payment.
"A wonderful and rather tech-savvy client came in offering to purchase my services with bitcoin," Lana explained.
"Dennis [the owner of Bunny Ranch] approved it, and we executed a transfer from the customer's bitcoin wallet to my own.
"I then paid cash from my personal stash to the office."
Part of the allure of bitcoin is its anonymity – which is why it's hugely popular with criminals.
Bitcoin transfers can be made without identifying who is sending the cash, which seems like the perfect solution to paying for sex services.
After all, few randy punters would want brothel charges showing up on their credit card statements.
"It was a mid-four-figure payment for an intimate girlfriend experience with me that lasted just over an hour," Lana told The Sun.
"My client walked out with a smile on his face – but little did he know we actually made history together."
The Bunny Ranch is one of seven brothels dotted across desert towns in Nevada that are owned by prolific sex baron Dennis Hof.
Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legal – and it's only allowed outside of Las Vegas.
Dennis' chain of sex dens includes the infamous Love Ranch brothel, where Khloe Kardasian's ex-husband Lamar Odom once overdosed.
But only the Moonlite branch allows bitcoin payments.
"We have some of the richest men in the world coming in and out of my brothels," Dennis explained.
"Our high-dollar clientele is accustomed to getting anything they want here, so when I started hearing requests from them to look into accepting bitcoin, I took those suggestions very seriously."
He said that bitcoin makes it much easier for clients to get their fix.
"We have guys carrying duffel bags full of cash right up to our cashier's window, and we've had to install a safe the size of Fort Knox to hold it all.
"Not that I mind good old fashioned cold cash, but bitcoin is making it so much more practical for those same clients to live out their sexual fantasies here at the Bunny Ranch without literally having to carry a lot of excess baggage."
The Moonlite Bunny Ranch is surprisingly progressive when it comes to embracing tech.
“We were the first brothel to have a website, a large social media presence, a live video streaming program, a podcast, and we're even in the process of incorporating sex robots into our lineup of gorgeous women.
"I always see technological advances as an advantage to my business," explained Dennis.
It recently introduced a virtual reality sex service to help fulfill its randy patrons' kinkiest fantasies.
In early April, Dennis began kitting out his brothel's VIP bungalows with VR headsets.
These can be used by punters to mix real sex with a virtual romp featuring a porn star, or even an explicit Japanese animated character (an XXX genre known as Hentai).
Bunny Ranch sex worker Alice Little explained: “While my client wears a headset and views VR hentai porn, I mimic the sensual actions of the animated character with my actual body creating an amazingly convincing sexual fantasy for my clients that yearn to get it on with an animated lover."
This story originally appeared in The Sun.
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