Poker community now provides ‘95% of payouts’ in Bitcoin — round $160M month-to-month

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Poker community now provides ‘95% of payouts’ in Bitcoin — round $160M month-to-month

Successful Poker Community, an internet community that helps quite a few on-line poker web sites internationally, has reported a surge in demand fo



Successful Poker Community, an internet community that helps quite a few on-line poker web sites internationally, has reported a surge in demand for Bitcoin payouts. 

In an Nov. 19 report from Bloomberg, the CEO behind Successful Poker Community, or WPN, stated that as much as 95% of poker gamers are presently requesting to be paid in Bitcoin (BTC).

Although the poker community has supported a number of cryptocurrencies since 2014, WPN CEO Phil Nagy said that the corporate wanted to make extra BTC purchases than ever due to demand brought on by the current value motion previous $17,000 and $18,000 in a matter of days.

“We’re continuously having to exit and purchase Bitcoin — tons,” stated Nagy. He estimated that even earlier than this current value surge, the WPN was paying out greater than $100 million in BTC each month, roughly 60% of all transactions on the community. Extrapolated to the 95% of payouts Nagy stories is presently occurring, and assuming the identical quantity, that may equate to roughly $158 million in Bitcoin every month.

In keeping with Nagy, the vast majority of clients enjoying poker on the community reside in america, which can assist clarify their choice for crypto as a medium of change provided that on-line playing is authorized in solely 11 out of 50 states. The CEO, who relies in Costa Rica, admitted to not checking whether or not gamers file their winnings for tax functions.

“It’s a piece round to flout the legislation, not likely the adoption Bitcoin needs to be after,” stated Reddit person HighFivePuddy. “Not precisely nice PR.”

Bitcoin and on-line poker has a protracted historical past collectively and there are various parallels between the favored card sport and crypto buying and selling, proper all the way down to the terminology of ‘know when to HODL.’ Former and present skilled poker gamers have been closely concerned with crypto, together with Blockfolio co-founder Ed Moncada and Doug Polk, who additionally runs a crypto YouTube channel.

One of many greatest crossover moments in crypto and playing got here final 12 months, when WPN set a Guinness World Report for the most important crypto jackpot for on-line poker winnings — $1,050,560, or roughly 106 BTC on the time.

Even with this degree of adoption inside the on-line playing world, Nagy stated that the WPN normally transformed Bitcoin it acquired from gamers straight into fiat to keep away from coping with the volatility. Nonetheless, that is probably not the case for for much longer if demand for Bitcoin payouts continues to rise. 

On the time of publication, Bitcoin is priced at $17,831, having risen greater than 9% within the final 7 days.