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Crypto Gambling Wins iGaming Market in Third Quarter of 2021

As crypto gambling continues to rise in popularity, we are also seeing a lot more activity in the crypto gambling space. Digital currencies and tokens such as Bitcoin have been evolving rapidly with gambling being one of the most significant areas of growth. Online gambling is currently the most lucrative space for many operators. Innovative use of technologies such as crypto and blockchain has been very vital for this growth.

Following a market study that lasted over several months, last Tuesday renowned crypto-first iGaming operator BGaming released a report detailing gambling market trends in Q3 of 2021. According to this report, crypto gambling showed the most significant growth of all existing gambling trends.

There was a massive surge in the popularity of digital currency use across several different sectors. It is now closer to mainstream adoption than ever. As such, its increasing popularity has made it a great way for many online casino operations to differential themselves. While Bitcoin still leads the pack, other digital tokens including custom ones from gambling operators have been doing very well.

“Being the world’s first iGaming provider to offer cryptocurrencies, we draw particular attention to crypto gambling. BGaming widens its network of crypto projects and we see the results. The number of explosive winnings on crypto projects has significantly risen over the past few months.”

Bogdan Gres, Brand Team Lead at BGaming.

For crypto-focused gambling companies such as BGaming, this is an indication that their efforts are paying off. It will therefore not be surprising to see even more entries into the crypto gambling space by both new companies and existing operators.

More Insights

The BGaming report also included other valuable insights into the current state of the iGaming sector and what we can expect for the future. To begin with, it found that mobile gaming is still a force to reckon with. Almost 95 percent of the operator’s gamers played from their mobile devices. If that is anything to go by, the mobile gambling vertical should only get better in the future.

Another important aspect of online gaming that BGaming’s report listed was the growing young adult audience. This tech-savvy and highly dynamic market grew by more than 6 percent in 2021. Finding new and exciting entertainment options is important to this audience. BGaming has thus been able to attract many of them thanks to its innovative crypto-powered offerings. To stay at the top, the company must cater to the demands of this audience.

 

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Cloudbet Unveils First-Ever Crypto Horse Racing Book

Since its launch, Cloudbet has grown to become one of the most trusted crypto-powered sportsbooks and casinos in existence. It has also built a reputation for being a very innovation-focused operator. The company has recently shaken up the world of betting with yet another first-of-its-kind offering. Users of the platform will now be able to use digital currencies to bet on horse races.

This move came just in time for the 2021 Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. Cloudbet customers will now bet on the horse races using over a dozen digital currencies including bitcoin. As expected, they will get to reap all the benefits of the crypto ecosystem. These include such things as better margins, much lower transaction costs as well as significantly faster withdrawals.

All that will not only apply to the Melbourne Cup which is Australia’s top event but also other huge races on the international calendar. Aligning with Cloudbet’s ambitious expansion plans, the new developments will certainly mean a lot for the growth of crypto. The gambling casino has been leading the way towards more mainstream adoption. With events as big as the horse racing competitions in Australia and other parts of the world, this might not be too hard to achieve.

Supercharging the Crypto Betting Experience

Horse race betting is just one of the few new additions that Cloudbet has been working on over the past several months. The company has also been spreading its footprint to other verticals ranging from political betting, esports betting, and social bet sharing. It currently boasts of up to 17 full native sportsbooks offering services in 17 languages to players from all around the globe.

To support all these amazing ventures, Cloudbet has also been inking deals with companies that will help it to boost its ability to polish the experience even further. One of the most notable ones from the past few months is a partnership agreement it inked with Dash. This gave the platform the ability to use Dash Digital Cash on its platform. Cloudbet has also been able to tap into the impressive features that the Dash blockchain has to offer.

“We are excited to work with Cloudbet, one of the most reputable names in the iGaming space. With Cloudbet’s many offerings, Dash payments make sense whether you are looking to place a last-minute bet or rapidly withdraw your winnings. You won’t find a more secure and rapid form of payment.”

Omar Hamwi, Business Development Lead at Dash.

Already, the partnership is paying off. If that is anything to go by, horse racing fans have a lot to look forward to.

DefiXBet

DefiXBet Launches World’s First DeFi Casino Platform

The future of P2P gaming platforms is looking very bright thanks to all the amazing innovations that are coming to the space. One of the most recent developments in this regard is from DefiXBet which has announced its very first decentralized casino that has integrated Decentralized Finance (DeFi) features. In addition to being an amazing offering with P2P functionality, the site claims to deliver the cleanest, transparent, secure and anonymous betting experiences in the industry.

Many crypto gamblers will be aware of centralized casinos and all the challenges that they are associated with. Many gaming operators have been trying to solve this problem. Some of the solutions including DefiXBet’s are very impressive. Instead of relying on gaming scripts that are easy to manipulate, the platform uses smart contracts. This contributes to the transparency and trustworthiness that the platform boasts of.

To further affirm its commitment to trustworthiness, the platform also supports decentralized betting. Through its “Custom Decentralized Bet” or CDB, the leaders of the site will have access to real-world and real-time data like API. This goes a long way in increasing user trust on the platform.

Opportunities For Players to Share Profit

Now, gambling can be fun but as always, winning is not guaranteed regardless of the game that you are playing. This is not really a problem as it is the very nature of all games of chance. However, DeFiXBet seems to found a way of letting the customers share a piece of the casino’s profit even if they lose at the gaming tables.

One of the features that make DefiXBet so attractive is its utilization of the DeFiProtocol to share casino profits with holders of its DXB token. That profit is distributed in such a manner that 40 percent goes to the stakeholders of the DeFi platform while another 40 percent goes to the DeFi platform itself. The remaining 20 percent is then channeled towards token buy-back and half of this will get burned.

“The DXB token value is designed to grow rapidly by scaling the platform while token holders can gain passive income by staking DXB or by creating their own casino games as a 3rd party developer,” one of DXB’s developers elaborates.

The inclusion of 3rd party games is a particularly exciting concept. This will not only mean more games for users but also presents an opportunity for more revenue generation from the additional profits gotten from the third parties.

bcgames

BC.GAME Receives License from Curacao

Fast-rising crypto-first gaming operator BC.GAME has recently checked off a huge milestone in its quest for expansion. The operator now has a gambling license and is now one of the very few officially regulated crypto-powered iGaming platforms. This license is from the jurisdiction of Curacao.

Anyone who has been paying even slight attention to the gambling sector will be familiar with Curacao. Officially referred to as the Curacao Interactive Licensing N.V. (CIL), it is one of the leading and most popular casino gambling licenses. Lots of operators often apply to be licensed and regulated by the body. Players trust its license thanks to the great reputation it has as a third-party regulatory body. It is best known for having a trustworthy, responsible, and stringent but fair licensing protocol.

Since BC.GAME now has a license from Curacao, it is safe to say that the company has proven that it adheres to all the rules and complies with all of Curacao’s applicable gambling regulations. This put the gambling operator in a unique position. First, the license further strengthens its beliefs and mission to provide outstanding security features. It also further affirms the company’s plans to deliver an optimal and provably fair gambling experience to the users.

“We have achieved a huge milestone by getting our gaming license and we are very optimistic about the future. Our new status as a regulated online casino allows us to offer 1000s of third-party games from the world’s top online casino slots and game providers. The gaming license means that we can also run a sportsbook and host live dealer games as well. We couldn’t be more excited.”

Chris Butler, the BC.GAME COO.

The license has been published on the Interplanetary File System (IPFS).

Huge Leap Forward for Crypto Gambling

While there has been massive growth in the crypto and gambling spaces, iGaming platforms that solely rely on digital currencies have found lots of difficulties when it comes to getting licenses. That said, BC.GAME’s achievement in this regard creates represents a lot of new enthusiasm for the future of the sector.

BC.GAME currently supports over 50 cryptocurrencies. Most of the other operators do not support that many digital currencies for either deposits or withdrawals. We should probably see more influx in terms of online casinos that get licenses from regulators across the globe. Moreover, this is an indication that more and more people are now warming up digital currencies.

binance-logo

Binance On the Spotlight Over Ties to Betting App in India

Both crypto and betting have been enjoying massive popularity all around the world. The situation is, however, not as rosy in India. The country has been known for its rather strong stance against gambling and the burgeoning digital currency and blockchain ecosystem. Its government has been trying hard to regulate these sectors. The latest casualty of these efforts is Binance, one of the world’s most popular crypto exchanges and brands.

Recently, the Enforcement Directorate, India’s anti-money laundering agency, began a probe into Binance Holdings Limited. The investigation is meant to ascertain whether the crypto exchange had something to do with betting apps. Its executives are currently being investigated.

No official communication is available on the matter. The Enforcement Directory has not commented and representatives from Binance have denied receiving any summons.

“We have always been a proactive player in fighting crime. We comply with regulator requests all around the world and we don’t comment on any specific engagements.”

Binance’s Spokesperson.

However, sources close to the matter have shared differing information that points to some messy issues. It will certainly take a bit of time before any of these matters get settled. It is thus bound to reach the public domain soon.

What Caused the Problem?

Blockchain, digital currencies, and the businesses related to them are no stranger to controversy. Binance is no exception. The company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and has no corporate headquarters. This raised some eyebrows and the exchange has been facing scrutiny. Many countries including India have concerns that digital currencies can potentially be used to facilitate money-laundering, drug trade, and even terrorism.

Binance’s woes in India may have emanated from its involvement with betting apps which are also still facing some troubles themselves. The operators of said betting apps used wallets with WazirX to buy, convert and transfer funds on Binance. There should be a straightforward way of dealing with this but that is, unfortunately, not the case.

As it turns out, Binance failed to take responsibility by collecting the necessary know-your-customer documents from clients in most of the transactions. In addition to that, the crypto exchange also reportedly failed to collect information as required by the Finance Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering watchdog.

Now, this may blow over without too many implications. Still, it represents a clear need for further action concerning the regulatory framework. India in particular has a long way to go when it comes to warming up to crypto and betting.

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Crypto.com To Sponsor Formula 1’s New Sprint Races

Renowned international racing auto racing organization Formula 1 has become one of the latest entities to partner with the crypto industry. This is thanks to a multi-million-dollar deal between the organization and Crypto.com which is one of the fastest-growing crypto platforms in existence.

As per the terms of the partnership agreement, Crypto.com will now be able to enjoy a significant amount of brand presence around Formula 1 events. This will begin with the new Spring qualifying format that Formula 1 will be using to determine the starting positions of cars in some of its races.

Speaking on the new development, a spokesperson from Formula 1 said that they are very excited about the partnership. Crypto.com’s reputation as a leading crypto platform across the globe certainly opens doors for new ways of fan engagement. F1 director of commercial partnerships Ben Pincus has also confirmed that cryptocurrencies are “an area we are very interested in.”

All the Sprint races will go down in three rounds of the championship in 2021. After its launch at Silverstone, more events will likely head to Monza after which the next location will be selected. There is speculation that this could be either Interlagos in Brazil or the Circuit of the Americas in the USA

NFTs Coming to Formula 1

The idea that one of the biggest racing organizations will now be associated with the crypto industry is very exciting, to say the least. What is even more exciting is the fact that some arguably newer crypto technologies such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) will be a part of the deal.

“As F1 continues to explore new ways for fans to engage and become more immersed in the sport, Crypto.com will also become the Official Cryptocurrency Sponsor and NFT Partner of F1. Mirroring the fan-first approach F1 has adopted to engage with new audiences, Crypto.com aims to democratize the world of cryptocurrency for fans, through education and experiences in the new partnership.”

To kick things off, Crypto.com will be presenting a brand-new award. This is yet to be announced but we expect some news on it ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

All in all, this is a great step forward for the world of digital currencies. The sector is still fundamentally considered to be complicated. Thanks to such partnerships as the one between Crypto.com and Formula 1 we can expect even more growth. It is going to be very exciting to see how this partnership pans out going forward.

sony-crypto-esports-betting

Sony Publishes Patent for Crypto-Powered Esports Betting

Thanks to the massive success of its PlayStation ecosystem, Sony is arguably the most cherished gaming company on the planet right now. This has not stopped the company from pursuing various areas of growth and, as it turns out, crypto seems to be one of the areas that the company has been looking at. In mid-May, this was confirmed following a report from Market Research Telecast which states that the Japanese video game company had finally published a crypto-related patent that they had filed back in 2019.

The report gave a glimpse of Sony’s plans for the crypto industry. It plans to start accepting bitcoin payments which would allow for live in-game esports betting. The platform would reportedly use both traditional or fiat currency as well as digital currencies but we are naturally more interested in the crypto aspect of the whole thing particularly because it represents yet another massive growth milestone for the sector.

How Would It Work?

Sony already boasts of a massive network as it stands and perhaps their next moves in this regard will revolve around making the new technologies work with their existing products. From what we could gather, the new crypto esports betting feature will simply work as an overlay. This means that the gamblers will still be able to watch the games live and be able to bet in real-time.

When it comes to the betting odds, the company will reportedly rely on artificial intelligence (AI) system that will be utilizing data related to the game’s history and that of the players. To make it even better, Sony seems to be planning to make the amazing new feature available to users of other platforms as well. In the patent, the company mentions porting it other consoles and gaming devices from companies like Nintendo and Microsoft which are the company’s biggest competitors.

Why This Matters

Digital currencies have generally been all the buzz lately and while most of the attention it has been getting could be good, there are still lots of people that are not sold on the idea yet. Sony’s, which owns the most recognizable gaming brands on the planet, entry paves the way for even more adoption.

Gaming has always been one of the most promising use-cases of digital currencies and with the massive rise in esports, there is certainly no better time to begin this journey than now. If everything falls into place, gamers all around the world will soon be able to have an even more refined glimpse of what the video game company has in store for them.

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Update: Atari Crypto Casino Finally Launches with Virtual Party

Last Thursday, renowned Japanese video game company Atari followed through with its plans to launch a cryptocurrency casino. This was through a virtual launch party that was hosted in Decentraland. Needless to say, the launch was a pretty huge milestone for the company as it doubles down on its efforts to become a huge player in the world of crypto gaming.

One of the biggest highlights of the launch event was the amazing performance of Dillion Francis, one of the world’s most popular DJs, record produces, and accomplished electronic musicians. He performed a DJ set via a live stream in the Casino Quarter of Vegas City on Decentraland. Atari was so impressed with this performance that they have gone on to say that it broke every record for a launch party.

The NFT Sale

Dillion Francis was one of the people that were behind the special non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that were auctioned off during the launch event. For that, the DJ and musician teamed up with MERDA, a popular visual artist. They then created three amazing NFT’s all of which were inspired by Gerald the Pinata

Dillon’s and MERDA’s NFTs were auctioned off on OpenSea and other platforms during Atari’s launch party. One of them featured a “3D Pixel Gerald,” and it sold for 6.42 ether (ETH) – this is the equivalent of $17,788 as of the time of this writing. Also worth noting is that the launch party began with a doubled prize pool which then brought the total prize pool for the launch to a whopping $20,000.

More to Come

Atari also recently announced plans for the formation of a blockchain division known as the Atari Blockchain. This move further solidifies the company’s venture into the world of crypto. Likely, the move will also nudge other companies to work towards similar initiatives.

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Atari Crypto Casino Coming in 2021

In March, renowned video game developer Atari announced that it has plans to launch a crypto casino. Known as Atari Casino, the new crypto casino would allow users to enjoy playing the company’s iconic gaming titles such as Pac-Man, Pong, Space Invaders, and Asteroids among others using digital currencies like Bitcoin. While the game developer is yet to provide any information regarding a specific launch date, it is anticipated that the launch could be as early as May or even April depending on various factors.

Still, this is a very exciting move for Atari. Last year in October, the company launched its first digital currency. This was shortly followed by the announcement of its plans to join the Ethereum virtual reality game Sandbox. Needless to say, these were the first indicators of Atari’s growing interest in expanding its presence in the crypto space. It is safe to say, an Atari-owned crypto-based gaming site was inevitable.

Lucrative Collaboration

For this venture, Atari partnered with Decentral Games on the Ethereum blockchain. The two partners have been working on several Atari-themed games as well as Atari non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – players will be able to leverage the latter to earn more digital currency. NFTs have grown very popular over the past several months and it is not surprising to see that big brands such as Atari are trying to capitalize on it.

Atari Casino will be based in “Vegas City” which is a gaming district in Decentraland, the Decentral Game’s metaverse. For anyone who is not familiar with the concept, Decentraland is simply a virtual world where visitors can visit using their avatars.

“By combining our expertise in building crypto casinos with Atari’s decades of experience in developing video games, we are excited for our community to immerse themselves in an innovative and new gaming experience,” Decentral Games’ statement read.

Some of the amazing things that players can look forward to on Atari Casino include games of luck as well as several titles that require both skill and luck. Anyone familiar with Atari’s classic offerings will be very happy with the nostalgia-inducing games that will be available on the platform.

High Hopes

According to the joint statement from Atari and Decentral Games, they expect to see bets of up to $150 million in 2021. This is further expected to rise to a whopping $400 million over two years. These are some pretty ambitious projections but they are pretty confident in being able to pull it off. For now, we will just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

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Bitcoin Boom Prompts New Developments for Financial Institutions

The past couple of months have been quite monumental for the world of crypto. Bitcoin, in particular, managed to scale to even greater heights and broke records it had set before, something that has a ton of impacts on the way individuals and institutions perceive crypto. Already, we are seeing several new developments with the most notable ones being by leading financial institutions. It is not just gambling operators anymore.

Goldman Sachs to Reopen Its Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

Beginning next week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc will be reopening its crypto trading desk. It is the second time that the banking powerhouse will be pursuing a piece of the crypto market. The previous attempt was in 2018 and was abandoned following the crash of bitcoin at the time. Now, there has been a change of heart for the company which is without a doubt a result of the mind-numbing bitcoin surge recorded over the past several weeks.

Goldman Sachs’ new crypto trading operation will see it deal bitcoin futures for clients. In addition to that, it will also be trading non-deliverable forwards which are already quite popular in foreign exchanges and commodities markets. This move has been equated to decisions by investors and companies to use bitcoin as a hedge against inflation especially as governments and central banks turn on various stimulus taps.

Coinbase’s Impending Listing

Riding on the back of a very strong 2020 and a solid first two months of 2021, Coinbase which happens to be one of the world’s most popular exchanges is finally taking another leap forward by becoming a public company. This will not only enable it to raise capital publicly but also push forward its plans to give more people access to crypto. If you missed out on the crypto boom, this will be the perfect opportunity to jump onto the bandwagon.

An official offering date is yet to be announced but if the ongoing rumors and speculations are anything to go by, we should expect some developments very soon.

Robinhood Records Massive Surge in Crypto Activity

Robinhood has also recently reported seeing growing consumer interest in crypto trading – the volumes have already risen significantly which goes to show just how lucrative the sector is becoming. To put this into context, the company saw a whopping 6 million new crypto traders at the beginning of 2021, a number that is still growing.

Perhaps the next move will involve the expansion of its crypto portfolio. As it stands, it only supports seven digital currencies which is a rather small number when compared to other trading platforms. This should, hopefully, change very soon.