21 Jun 2022
It's been a remarkable couple of weeks for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin continues to fall to new lows and lead to a market crash of lesser cryptocurrencies. The market's downturn has caused analysts and consumers to question the future of all these new currency. Particularly, it's been questioned in relation to its use for online gambling and betting on sports.
In the last week, bitcoin was down by 7.8 percent. On Saturday, it fell to $17,592.78. It was the record low price since December of 2020.
In the market overall the cryptocurrency market has lost more than 60 percent of its value in the last year. In the month of March was the worst for cryptocurrency, losing 37 percent from its worth. While it was able to recover 7percent by the beginning the week. Financial experts around the world have coined the term "crypto meltdown" to define the catastrophic loss.
The fall of Bitcoin has also caused smaller cryptocurrencies to take measures. US cryptocurrency lender Celsius recently stopped the transfer of funds between accounts, and also suspended withdrawals from customers.
Discussions of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes for the US while inflation in the world's largest economy continues to rise have put pressure on risky assets ranging from cryptocurrency to stocks.
What exactly does this mean to the market as well as the long-term future for casinos and crypto?
As soon as cryptocurrency became popular, the gaming industry was able to take advantage of the opportunity to be involved. Crypto casinos have appeared across the world with major names such as such as Bitcasino, FortuneJack, and 1xbit.
In the early months of 2014. Zynga was testing the use of bitcoin to purchase in-game items for a variety kinds of games. The same time it was announced that both the D Las Vegas Casino Hotel as well as Golden Gate Hotel & Casino Golden Gate Hotel & Casino have announced that they will take bitcoin as well.
Platform provider Softswiss remembers setting up around three to four Bitcoin casinos each month in the beginning between 2013 and 2014. While a few of them failed to survive the numerous downturns that followed however, many have. The 'crypto winters' as with any economic downturn tend to separate the wheat from the chaff leaving the more resilient companies to build a stronger foundation on the market once it picks up.
Prior to this year's dramatic crypto crash, we observed an enormous cross-over between sports and crypto gambling in the US. It was the Super Bowl was dubbed the " Crypto Bowl" due to the fact that major crypto brands like Coinbase, Crypto.com, and FTX were scrambling to sell their products in advertising slots during the primetime. Slots were estimated to be worth between $7 million to $14 million.
In the last few days, despite the dramatic decline in cryptocurrency market, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins has expressed an desire to integrate crypto into the company's offerings. But, he hasn't provided a date for the implementation.
It is certainly a popular option," he told the Decrypt gm podcast in the last month. "Certainly in the market we ought to be able to accomplish this. We're trying to make this ."
Daily fantasy and betting on sports company had already entered the non-fungible token (NFT) market in July 2021. They launched an exchange that is the only platform to purchase trading, selling, and buying NFTs from NFL Tom Brady's legendary Autograph collection.
From May to May the cryptocurrency market has been rocked by the largest downturn to the present.
Bitcoin dropped to a minimum of $20,950.82 on June 14 in the wake of the sudden death of Terra USD - a so-called stablecoin which is a cryptobacked by fiat money which is a constant price and its ilk counterpart, LUNA, in May.
Terra was one of the many initiatives in recent times to limit some of the maligned volatility that is associated with cryptocurrency by linking their value to fiat currencies. This has led to they are referred to as stable coins. The concept is that they will follow their value in relation to fiat currencies and be protected against the uncertainties that defines cryptocurrency.
The resulting uncertainty following these failures has thrown the crypto market into a "crypto winter', thought to be a temporary recession by a lot of crypto enthusiasts. They believe that it will be overcome if they keep their fingers crossed and hope for the inevitable gradual warming and recovery.
Although a winter in crypto isn't a good thing for companies or start-ups in the crypto space that do not have enough liquidity to weather it, existing crypto-based casinos will be able to get through it with the intention of gaining more once the market starts to climb again. However, the slowdown will hinder the speed at which other businesses incorporate crypto into their business.
But, exactly how the current downturn in the crypto market will impact the further adoption of sportsbooks and casino is yet to be determined.