The revolution continues

Away from sensationalist headlines about the price of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are quietly changing the way global finance works. To date, the adoption of these forms has been more tortoise than hare, but we all know how that story panned out.

Having been purpose-built to handle financial transactions, blockchain technologies offer the gaming market a great deal more than just cryptocurrency acceptance at point of play. This is not to discount the change currently being seen in consumer habits, however. Demand for token betting has been growing steadily for years, and the benefit of accepting this can be a boon for operators, according to The SoftSwiss Game Aggregator report.

The company's aggregator platform currently provides more than 11,000 games from 70 studios, and has taken more than € 4bn ($4.74bn) in wagers. A key part of this growth has been the implementation of cryptocurrency payments.

The platform hosts more than 3,000 titles that, through blockchain integration, can accept token wagers, and this number is only growing. The company recently reported that cryptocurrency gambling traffic saw a threefold increase between 2019 and 2020, and that there is little sign of this slowing although the market is currently dominated by Bitcoin, as one would expect.

"The SoftSwiss Game Aggregator supports several of the most popular cryptocurrencies, but the undoubted leader was and still is Bitcoin with a dominating 90%, and other cryptocurrencies (ETH, LTC in second and third place respectively) holding the remaining 10%. Country-wise, the SoftSwiss Game Aggregator statistics highlighted strong crypto usage all around the world, with increasing interest in Canada, Russia and Latin America."

While Bitcoin is currently the most well-known cryptocurrency - owing in no small part to recent media fascination - the true benefit of blockchain implementation in the gaming space is far greater than just allowing transactions in the latest popular form.

BitBoss CEO and co-founder Matthew Dickson has been developing blockchain gaming solutions for close to a decade, and in that time he's seen a great deal of "next big things" come and go. He believes it's crucial for operators, content creators and platform providers to fully engage with the market to separate the wheat from the chaff.

"As a company, and as a team, we have a great deal of institutional experience in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. We've seen countless projects come and go and there's too many 'next big things' to count. However, when Bitcoin SV came about, it was really a game changer for us. It was really the first blockchain that we found, after being in the space for a long time, that we could process transactions at scale, and we didn't have to worry about double spend. This particular blockchain solved all of that for us," he told Trafficology.

The culmination of these experiences is the BitBoss Bridge Ecosystem, a next-generation transactional platform that streamlines money management throughout the online and land-based supply chains, through a secure, immutable cashless system.

The adoption of blockchain technologies within the gaming space has been a gradual one, and the time offered by this deliberate progress has enabled BitBoss to maximise its offering, Dickson commented.

"Now, after years of development, we have the most scalable, robust, blockchain gaming platform inthe world right now. I say that with all sincerity," he said. An increasing variety of wagering options will always be attractive to both player and operator, but it is the structure of blockchains themselves that provide the most meaningful benefit. With their full-chain transparency, provable fairness and non-custodial wallet applications, these technologies enable instantaneous transactions between actors in a fully secure, mutually accountable environment that has no need for intermediaries, or additional platforms.

It is these benefits that are often the most overlooked, added Dickson. "What we are seeing is that the large majority is missing the fact there's a confluence of transactions of transactions and money - as that is all gaming really is: a financial transaction with a packet of data.

"The problem is that the internet was designed for data transfer, not for money. Blockchain was designed for money transfer and then data was added later on, so our take on it is that if every gaming transaction is essentially a monetary transaction, why would you not choose the network that is designed specifically for money?"

The financial-centric nature of blockchain technology also has wide-ranging implications for the affiliate model. By leveraging decentralised accountancy structures, operators, affiliates and content providers can be paid their share of each wager instantaneously, and inexpensively. Each member of the supply chain has full access to the ledger, meaning complete transparency of process from the moment of transaction - the need for end-of-month invoices and waiting for payment are removed.

The SoftSwiss Game Aggregator report further addressed the end-user transactional benefits: "Perhaps one of the most important aspects for players when choosing a casino is the ability to quickly withdraw their winnings, so crypto projects do outrun fiat ones here. The second important aspect is transparency. Provably Fair is very rarely spotted in fiat casinos, but it is the gold standard for crypto casinos.

"Nevertheless, the rapidly growing popularity of cryptocurrency as a means of payment is leading to rising interest in crypto gambling, a market previously dominated by fiat. Bitcoin is no longer something exotic. So, in the coming years, we can expect to see more gaming studios supporting cryptocurrencies in their games, as well as casino operators integrating new crypto payment methods for their players," the company added.

The assumption that blockchain technology adoption means the instant redundancy of existing server structures, many of which represent decades of investment, is not only misplaced, but is indicative of a lack of understanding of the form, according to Dickson. He feels the immediate growth of blockchain technologies lies in improving the efficiency of existing transaction structures, not replacing entire back-office systems.

"I think it's beyond the slow emerging stage. Blockchain is into a stage where everyone that is technologically savvy gets it now. It is now a case of companies developing their business implementations on a blockchain, and finding that it is better than traditional client server architecture.

"We can see that in places like Vegas, where two thirds of all revenue is from non-gaming expenses, and there's huge potential to implement cryptocurrencies that would allow instant payments, in the way that they do credit cards. And from cutting out transaction fees in that way as a casino, you could increase your margin by 2.5%. It's a lot of money."

Looking ahead, both Dickson and SoftSwiss agree on one salient fact: blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will only continue to grow within the gaming space. "Once land-based and online operators are comfortable accepting a stable token as payment, they are going to become more receptive to turning on our online gaming platform as a service. It's a natural progression. So I think it starts with enabling people to move money first, and then the next phase is the wider adoption of a gambling platform that runs 100% on a blockchain," Dickson said.

The gaming space is an inarguably innovative one, something that has been brought into sharp focus over the last 12 months. Issues of security, international compliance structures and fund protection have all been hot topics, and all can be solved through the implementation of blockchain technologies. That is not to say that any one platform provides a silver bullet for all market ills, however. Far from it, according to Dickson.

"Cryptocurrency and blockchains do not solve every problem in the world, I don't even think they solve that many, but what it is incredible for is financial and data transactions - and these are the transactions that gaming is built on," he said. "Blockchain right now has been around for a long time, and it is very usable today, as we speak. The immediate future is blockchain: of that I have no doubt. People will come to accept it and use it, and once that happens, it will become clear just how incredible the benefits are. Once it is in wider use, it will become impossible to ignore. Wherever there are financial transactions, it is of benefit.

"Blockchain is here and it is here to stay. It is the future of gaming of that there is no doubt."