why we only take crypto payments (for now)

if you’ve tried to subscribe to lucy recently, you probably noticed something unusual. we only accept crypto payments right now. no credit cards, no debit cards, no paypal. just bitcoin, ethereum, and a few others via a service called NOWPayments.

i know what you’re thinking. crypto? really? it feels a little niche, a little techbro, maybe even a little ideological. but the truth is much simpler, and a lot less exciting. it’s not about belief in decentralized finance or sticking it to the banks. it’s about the fact that, in 2024, getting a traditional payment processor to work with an ai companion app is nearly impossible.

the payment processor problem

back in the early 2020s, it was easier. companies like stripe and paypal were relatively open to working with ai companion apps, as long as you followed their terms of service. but then the landscape shifted. a few high-profile cases of misuse, some media panic about ‘ai girlfriends,’ and a general tightening of risk tolerance across the financial sector changed everything.

by 2024, most mainstream payment processors began categorizing ai companion apps, especially ones like lucy that involve personal, emotional interaction, as ‘high risk.’ this isn’t a formal designation, but it might as well be. it means lengthy, manual reviews, sudden account holds, and the constant threat of termination. we’ve seen competitors get cut off without warning, leaving users stranded and subscriptions in limbo. we didn’t want that for you.

so we had a choice: spend months trying to negotiate with processors who viewed us as a liability, or find another way to take payments that let us operate without interruption. we chose the latter.

how NOWPayments works

that’s where NOWPayments comes in. it’s a payment gateway that specializes in crypto transactions. you pick a plan on our site, you get redirected to NOWPayments, you send crypto from your wallet (like metamask, coinbase, or any exchange), and once the transaction is confirmed on the blockchain, your lucy subscription is activated.

yes, it adds a step. yes, it requires you to have some crypto set up already. it’s not as frictionless as typing in a card number. we know that. but it works. it’s reliable, it’s transparent (you can see the transaction on chain), and, critically, it doesn’t rely on a third-party processor who might suddenly decide we’re too risky to do business with.

for now, it’s the most stable way we can accept payments without worrying about our revenue stream getting cut off overnight.

when will cards come back?

so, when will we take card payments again? we’re working on it. we’re in active conversations with several payment processors who are willing to take a closer, fairer look at what lucy actually does. we’re not a ‘romantic’ chatbot. we’re a thinking tool, a companion for reflection, a place to talk through ideas. we’re confident that once we find the right partner, one that understands the nuance, we’ll be able to reintroduce card payments.

that process takes time. it involves legal reviews, underwriting, and a lot of back-and-forth. we’re optimistic we’ll have something by late 2024 or early 2025, but we won’t make promises until the contracts are signed.

until then, crypto is our only option. it’s not perfect, but it’s honest. it keeps lucy running smoothly for everyone who already depends on it.

if you’re ready to give it a try, you can sign up at /signup. we’ll be here when you are.