Decentralized finance has exploded in popularity over the past year and many analysts have pointed to the 2020 'summer of DeFi' as the primary catalyst for the rallies seen in Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). In the beginning, investors were able to easily secure 4-digit annual percentage yield (APY) on an almost endless number of attractively priced assets on Uniswap but the increased activity on the Etheruem network eventually led to unsustainable spikes in gas fees and serious network congestion. These skyrocketing gas fees have priced out the average retail investor from participating in even the simplest protocol interactions like …

Global developments over the past year have reshaped all aspects of daily life for most people and initiated some structural changes in how society operates. Lockdowns and travel restrictions have led to the rise of remote working and altered the way people make use of their free time. The coronavirus pandemic essentially shut down travel and this has had a direct impact on most entertainment hubs around the world. Gambling destinations like Las Vegas and Macau were pulverized by the pandemic and most of the world's most popular sporting events were halted or took place without spectators being present. The …

The value of the Decentraland (MANA) token climbed 31% leading into March 9, following news that classic game manufacturer Atari would set up a gaming casino inside Decentraland’s virtual realm. Announced on March 8, a partnership between Atari and Decentral Games will see the launch of Atari Casino within Decentraland this coming May. The casino is expected to feature various Atari-themed games, playable with MANA tokens, the DAI stablecoin, Decentral Games’ own DG token, or Atari’s eponymous Atari Token (ATRI). Decentral Games is a community-owned ecosystem-based inside Decentraland, which is governed by its own users with the help of a …

No-loss lotteries appear to have found a snug product-market fit. Just a few days after the airdrop of their governance token, POOL, the self-styled “savings game” PoolTogether has cracked $50 million in total value locked with ease, currently sitting above $51 million spread between DAI, USDC, UNI, and COMP lottery pools. PoolTogether aptly 'pools' user funds and deposits them into decentralized finance savings protocols, using the interest as prizes for randomly-selected winners and returning the initial funds to buyers — thus creating a “no-loss” lottery. While the project stalled below $10 million in total value locked for months, growth has …

The largest manufacturer of slot machines in the world has just received a patent that would allow customers to access crypto payments for gambling. According to records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, International Game Technology, or IGT, received a patent today for a system that would enable gamblers to transfer crypto from their accounts into a “gaming establishment account.” The patent filing shows payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ether (ETH) as examples for users transferring crypto from their private wallets to wallets connected to casino accounts. “IGT secured this patent to bolster its industry-leading …

China’s central bank digital currency is expected to further exacerbate Macau’s declining gambling revenues. According to a Dec. 2 article from Bloomberg, junkets — Macau businesses that act as middlemen to facilitate visits by China’s high-roller gamblers — claim their clients are looking to other jurisdictions due to concerns the digital yuan will be introduced to Macau’s embattled gambling sector. The report cites anonymous sources who claim local casino operators have been approached by Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau to discuss the viability of denominating casino chip purchases in digital yuan rather than Hong Kong dollars, as is presently …

After just over two years of development, on Sunday a new form of gambling will be released to the Ethereum world on mainnet: hamster-powered marble races. Powered by Mia, a female djungarian or “winter white dwarf” hamster and her trusty hamster wheel, the project, dubbed “Mia & the Marbles,” is an automated marble-racing and gambling platform from a group of independent developers. While the concept behind the project may seem… whimsical, in an interview with Cointelegraph the development team for ‘M&M’ revealed how carefully the racing platform has been thought out. “We guarantee races that are provably fair, provably live …

Winning Poker Network, an online network that supports numerous online poker websites across the world, has reported a surge in demand for Bitcoin (BTC) payouts. In a Nov. 19 report from Bloomberg, the CEO behind Winning Poker Network, or WPN, said that up to 95% of poker players are currently requesting to be paid in Bitcoin. Though the poker network has supported several cryptocurrencies since 2014, WPN CEO Phil Nagy stated that the company needed to make more BTC purchases than ever because of demand caused by the recent price movement past $17,000 and $18,000 in a matter of days. …

Eric Wall, chief investment officer of crypto hedge fund Arcane Assets, has offered a $1 million bet that the Bitcoin stock-to-flow model will be proven false before 2025. In a Nov. 12 tweet to his 32,700 followers, Wall laid out the terms of the wager, offering to pay $1 million to anyone who accepts his bet that the stock-to-flow, or S2F, model will be “broken” in less than five years. The CIO stated the definition of “broken” is if the Bitcoin (BTC) price hasn't "reached even 50% of its target range". Although he tagged in S2F model creator PlanB (@100trillionUSD) …

Chainlink’s verifiable randomness function, or VRF, has made its way to the Ethereum (ETH) main net. VRF will provide a decentralized source of randomness for the project's decentralized ecosystem. A trusted source of randomness is essential for many applications, such as those in the gambling and gaming industries. Chainlink’s co-founder Sergey Nazarov told Cointelegraph that many blockchains beyond Ethereum, such as the gaming-focused Matic Network, are interested in deploying the project’s VRF: “I know that we have anywhere between 10 and 20 users announced as already using it from the time it was in testnet only. And I know a …

Illegal gambling and casinos result in the outflow of over a trillion yuan annually (around $146.5 billion) from China, said Liao Jinrong, the director general of the International Cooperation Department under the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. He said that the operators of the overseas gambling platforms and casinos collect the funds from gamblers using digital currencies, making the investigation into these activities more challenging for the authorities. Speaking at an event in Beijing, Liao said that the illegal outflow of such a huge amount can erode the economic security of China. He added that if the “gangs” behind the …

Joel Birch, co-founder of automated crypto investment platform Stacked, detailed his initial dive into Bitcoin (BTC) as a way of gambling on the internet. "I bought my first Bitcoin because I was playing Blackjack online," Birch told Cointelegraph in an interview. "Bitcoin was about $250 a piece, and so, back in 2015, I lost what would be the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars today, playing Blackjack." Between 2015 and 2017, Bitcoin rose from $200, all the way to $20,000 on some exchanges, meaning Birch's early Blackjack losses turned out to value much higher than he thought at the …