Spanish suspect accused of sex crimes tied to crypto payments

Authorities in Spain have accused a Spanish native of allegedly committing sex crimes in exchange for cryptocurrencies. According to the report, the man was accused of committing sexual depravity against his daughter in exchange for digital assets on a livestream.

According to Spanish police, the man, who was arrested in Madrid, would usually select depraved individuals like himself from his group of followers to watch him abuse the girl after posting sick photos of himself lying alongside the girl on a bed in a compromising position. The police released footage of the 46-year-old Spanish native being led out of his apartment, where he lived and committed the atrocities, into the waiting police car in handcuffs.

Spanish man docked in ‘sex crimes for crypto’ operation

According to the Spanish police, the arrest is the culmination of an investigation that has spanned four months. “Officers in Madrid have arrested a man for allegedly broadcasting the sexual abuse he subjected his own daughter to through a live streaming app,” a spokesperson for the National Police said. The Spanish police mentioned that in exchange for his actions, the man received digital assets via the same application where he carried out his atrocities.

In addition, the police mentioned that he always exchanged the digital assets for an increase in online presence, which translated to an increase in popularity on the application. The police also claimed that some of his depraved followers used to shower him with gifts, with some sending the gifts during his distasteful activities, while others sent them as a reward before the end of his livestream. The police were informed about the atrocities some months ago through an anonymous email.

The Spanish police claimed that they started investigations immediately they discovered what the man was doing on the livestream. They claimed that the anonymous email came in from a system that was designed to receive tip-offs from the public about child porn crimes. The police release stated that the probe began in November 2025, after they discovered that the arrested man used private livestreaming rooms to attract users interested in his kind of materials, using the photos as bait to lure them.

Police say he exchanges his crypto payments for gifts and popularity

“After contacting with paying customers through an external messaging app he broadcast the sexual abuse he subjected his underage daughter to in exchange for cryptocurrency, which could be exchanged online for gifts or to improve his web positioning. He was arrested after officers managed to identify him and locate him in Madrid. During a search of his home, two mobile phones with a large amount of pornographic material on them were seized,” the police spokesperson added.

The police highlighted that he has been remanded in prison after appearing in front of a judge on suspicion of corruption of minors, consisting of the production, possession, and distribution of child pornography and a crime of sexual assault. According to local reports, the man was arrested in a neighborhood in Madrid called Tetuan, and police mentioned that they had never come across the application he was using to allegedly commit his depraved crimes before investigations started.

This development comes at a time when the global populace has been apprehensive about the menace of artificial intelligence chatbots being used to create controversial deepfakes of women and children in compromising positions. It also comes at a time when regulators are being urged to enforce stricter penalties on individuals taking advantage of the pseudonymous nature of digital assets to carry out illegal activities. Regulators across the world are being charged to stand against this menace before it gets out of hand.