In recent months, the team here at the Crypto Gambling Foundation (CGF) have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to improve operator standards, whilst developing our brand and expanding our reach throughout the industry. With the main goal to revolutionise the implementation of provable fairness and its importance in the gambling industry, we are constantly looking for others that share the same ideals to assist in achieving our vision.
A product that has drawn our attention in recent times has been The Bitcoin Strip. Their dedication to ensuring a strategy similar to ours meant it was a no-brainer for both parties to join a partnership.
Whilst in early stages, I took the time to sit down with the owner of our newest partner, Nick, to discuss a few passionate topics that I’m sure a lot of our readers and stakeholders would love to hear about.
Whats the story behind the Bitcoin strip?
I started out playing online poker back in 2006 when the industry was going through massive growth. I sat at the tables for 10 to 12 hours a day and ended up playing professionally for several years. That all changed in 2011 when the industry took a major hit during “Black Friday” – an enormous crackdown on online poker sites by the US Government that led to the player base shrinking enormously.
Coincidentally, this came at a time when Bitcoin was beginning to get some attention. I saw an opportunity for players to side-step the regulators to play with what was essentially considered “play money” at the time. Bitcoin poker sites like SealsWithClubs were beginning to see regular activity – a hint at what was to come for the Bitcoin gambling industry.
In light of this, I decided to begin my journey in the Bitcoin gambling affiliate space. Having had affiliate experience in the traditional poker and casino industry before, I felt this was the natural next step – and one to take before the rest of the industry caught on.
So The Bitcoin Strip is the culmination of this journey, seeing itself reiterated on and rebranded a number of times. It’s crazy to think how serious this industry has become thinking back to those Bitcoin “play money” days of 2011.
How long have you been around for and what have you learn the most from this project?
There are a few things I’ve taken away from my time in this space, the first being that Bitcoin is king. Over the years, many other cryptocurrencies have claimed to be pulling in enormous betting volumes. I remember when EOS dice sites were posting revenues in the hundreds of millions. The reality is that these numbers are wildly exaggerated thanks to the low cost of faking volume on these blockchains. Our data shows that there is very little appetite for most of these altcoins when it comes to gambling.
It’s also very clear that cryptocurrency gamblers are not like traditional gamblers. They tend to be younger, more tech-savvy and far more interested in a good user experience – anonymity is also key. Compare top Bitcoin betting sites like Stake with the likes of Bet365 or 888 and it’s obvious we’re talking about two very different markets.
What are some things we should be keeping an eye on the horizon for?
Smart contract gambling on Ethereum is going to be a big deal. Depositing and withdrawing with Bitcoin is one thing but being able to trustlessly bet without a middleman is going to be a game changer.
The reason this hasn’t taken off yet is that each bet requires a block confirmation (15 seconds on Ethereum). There are a number of platforms that have tried to circumvent this through “state channels”, but this reintroduces trust assumptions that defeat much of the point in decentralized gambling.
Going further, it’s likely that Bitcoin gamblers will be able to take advantage of this with the introduction of low-trust ETH-BTC bridges like what we’re seeing with tBTC. This will allow gamblers to essentially bet Bitcoin using highly secure Ethereum smart contracts and without ever losing custody of their funds to a third party.
Finally, there are stablecoins. I’m surprised by just how little up-take there is for stablecoin gambling by the operators and players in this space. USDT has had some integration, although what’s needed is the inclusion of decentralized stablecoins like DAI, whose transactions are censorship resistant and whose value is – I’d argue – more secure.
Gambling Bitcoin is great, but betting with non-volatile crypto definitely has its place.
Where do you see things in the crypto space in the next decade?
If we’re being really ambitious I see Central Bank Cryptocurrencies being issued and a blurring of the lines between Fiat and Crypto gambling. Government-regulated casinos will accept cryptocurrencies in the form of digital dollars, euros and pounds, with KYC deposits of Bitcoin and other public cryptocurrencies.
I also imagine we’ll have a vibrant space of smart contract casinos with Ethereum dominating this sector. This will be thanks to the widespread adoption of web3 browsing from the likes of Chrome and Firefox, as well as native crypto-wallets built into Samsung, Pixel and iPhones. The ability to interact with blockchain-based gambling apps will be seamless and the functionality will be mind bending in today’s terms.
Removing trust from the gambling system will unlock incredible new ideas that we can’t even imagine today – similar to how the decentralized finance space is opening up entirely new concepts previously not thought of.
Who do you consider to be the biggest and most influential role models in the crypto gambling industry?
From operators and regulators all the way through to affiliates and players, there are a lot of people doing their part to ensure cryptocurrency gambling becomes a safer and more transparent market than traditional betting.
On the operator side, Stake is doing all the right things for their players and the industry. On top of their license from Curacao, the platform goes a long way to self-regulate and as a result have demonstrated what Bitcoin casinos are capable of.
On the Ethereum side, FunFair is demonstrating what can be done with smart contracts as a means to transparently resolve the trust issues that have previously plagued this space. The improvements in Ethereum technology over the coming years will hopefully give FunFair more space to shine.
While the CGF do not act as a regulator, they do provide some much needed integrity for this space. Their role in evaluating and certifying cryptocurrency casinos will prove evermore valuable as the industry grows.
In what way (if any) does provable fairness have an influence on operator reviews and rankings on your site?
Provable fairness (with an open source method of verifying bets), is one of the most important factors for us. With Bitcoin gambling, we see no reason why a casino cannot implement such a basic trust verification tool and expect to see more operators adding this feature in due course.
Do you get many queries from viewers regarding operator fairness and their provable fairness implementations?
I think the most telling thing is that we don’t hear any complaints from players using casinos with provable fairness. In an industry that currently operates in a low-regulation environment, it’s unsurprising that many players are suspicious of bad beats from platforms that have no way of verifying fairness.
The complaints we do receive are near-exclusively from traditional-styled casinos that have “tagged on” Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals with the same low level of opaqueness you might expect.
What would you like to see from/or help influence with this partnership with the CGF?
It’s clear that the industry is in need of an organisation like the CGF. We’re hoping that by including and making clear who our CGF-verified partners are, we’ll be able to provide a much safer experience for our players.
Through our partnership, we are keen to help establish a globally recognized certificate of trust that can be applied to operators who adopt the highest standards of transparency and fairness.
