How cryptocurrencies can disrupt the gaming industry? Source: images.indianexpress.com
Sports betting has recently been legalized in many countries around the world amid a surge in the public’s interest in this activity on the back of the appearance of a large number of online providers.
Alongside this trend, cryptocurrencies have also started to impact the gaming and gambling industry as a way to facilitate the process of depositing money for consumers located in countries whose regulations ban this kind of activity or whose forex conditions are challenging.
Moreover, they have also opened the door to the potential introduction of decentralized platforms with Bitcoin transactions leading the way. Having this in mind, it wouldn’t be too crazy to read on Bitcoin dominating the world’s top betting sites across all major news outlets in the near future. Undoubtedly, cryptos are here to stay, we just have to wait and see how widely accepted they will become.
Now, are there any benefits to incorporating cryptocurrencies into the sports betting and gaming industry? What kind of impact can this trend have in gaming as we know it? In this article, we discuss this topic to give our readers a better idea of what they may expect to see in the future as the world keeps embracing digital solutions.
What kind of positive impact can crypto have on gaming?
#1 – Cheap and fast money transfers
For gamers who might be located at places where regulations are quite strict when it comes to gambling, cryptocurrencies bring freedom as they could be able to access providers from other countries by using these digital assets as a payment method that operates outside the boundaries of government regulation.
In most cases, transferring assets from a digital wallet to another is inexpensive and one example of this is the recently developed Lighting Network – a layer 2 protocol designed to operate within the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain that increases transaction speeds and reduces costs.
#2 – Increased transparency
The blockchain, which is the name of the technology that powers the crypto ecosystem, seems to be a perfect fit for the gaming industry when it comes to increasing the transparency of games and bets.
Since this technology is open source, any developer with advanced programming knowledge can audit the rules of the game and certify that results are either random or compliant with the parameters set forth by the provider.
Therefore, cryptocurrencies can assure gamers that they are getting into a fair game and that the provider of the game is abiding by the rules he has laid out in his marketing materials.
#3 – Anonymity
Gamblers typically feel more comfortable if they can engage in this activity without having to disclose their identity. Cryptocurrencies offer that possibility as only a wallet address would be needed to connect to any platform and deposit the funds required to start placing wagers.
That said, there are still measures that need to be taken to prevent illicit funds from flowing into the gaming space by using these digital assets.
The sports betting industry in the world
According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), the gaming and gambling industry has been recovering lately after the recession it experienced in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, in the specific case of Canada, the industry was also affected by the virus crisis. Before the contingency, the industry was estimated to be worth around $13 billion.
Moving forward, this market is expected to keep growing in the country as a result of higher betting volumes for disciplines including hockey, basketball, and other sports that are highly popular in the North American country.
More about cryptocurrencies in sports betting
For some experts, there is no industry or economic sector that cannot be benefited from the adoption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as an alternative to cash. Nowadays, many online casinos have embraced digital currencies as a payment method and games have been developed using blockchain technology as the backbone of their operations.
One example of this is Wink.org, a website that runs on the TRON blockchain and that supports the development of decentralized games. The top games powered by this layer-2 network include Dice, Live Casino, and Poker.
Aside from the advantages discussed above, the play-to-earn trend is also emerging to disrupt the role that players have in gaming platforms. Since rewards in decentralized gaming are collected in the form of a digital asset, players are not just users but also owners of the network when they receive and hold these assets.
As a result, they can vote on the structure of the gaming platform by using advanced decentralized governance protocols and they can also benefit in the long term if the price of the asset rises.
Even though there are risks to decentralization, including the possibility of a hack, there are also many benefits that could, at some point, outweigh those disadvantages.
Meanwhile, more and more developers seem to be being attracted to this technology due to its capacity to disrupt how the industry functions at the moment and that increases the odds that the next big name in the sector could come out of the crypto world.
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