cryptos-

How COVID-19 Has Impacted the Global Crypto Market

The whole world is currently feeling the pinch of the coronavirus pandemic that has resulted in major economic disruptions. That said, regardless of where you are in the world, you will certainly be affected by this in one way or the other. Both individuals and several industries are reeling from the effects of the economic slow down brought about by the virus and it gets even worse due to the uncertainty that is it is associated with.

The cryptocurrency sector has not been left behind. Just like many other industries including travel, hospitality, gambling, manufacturing, and tourism, the crypto industry has had to deal with several issues. There are lots of implications that have to be put into consideration.

The Bad

After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, there was a significant drop in risk assets with the stock market reporting some of the worst stats in over 10 years. A lot of these risk assets took a hit and crypto was one of them. This can be seen by price drops that were reported for several digital currencies including Bitcoin.

Fortunately, the assets have managed to recover some of their losses the biggest casualties have thus far been the smaller projects. While more popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum might get to recover and even see upticks in their usage, the smaller crypto projects will certainly get the short end of the stick.

To make things even worse, due to the cancellation of most social events and closure of several markets, raising capital is now much harder than it has ever been. Not only are there any meetings to discuss possible investments but the investors are also much warier about what they invest in again due to the uncertainty about the future.

The Good

All is not lost though. While the pandemic is definitely not something to be taken lightly, it has allowed for a number of stablecoins to shine. Currencies like Bitcoin are being pulled off exchanges as more people are considering them as vital stores of value that can help them get through these tough times.

Besides that, we have seen significant contributions from the cryptocurrency community towards efforts to fight and contain the coronavirus outbreak. Companies in the sector like Binance have donated funds amounting to millions of dollars towards such efforts and these contributions are bound to make a huge difference in both the long and short terms.

SG-Vaix

Scientific Games Leverages Power of AI Through Vaix.ai Partnership

Scientific Games Corporation, one of the biggest gaming technology solutions developers in the world, has recently partnered with Vaix.ai which is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine provider. The partnership is part of Scientific Games’ new bid to offer more custom-tailored gaming experiences to anyone who uses its products and services. There will be particularly a lot of focus on personalized wagering experience with regards to custom betting choices for each player as well as personalized online gaming and sports betting recommendations.

The areas of focus for the new partnership will be the OpenSports and the OpenMarket product suites, both of which are very popular among Scientific Games’ partners. These two product suites will now take advantage of Vaix’s expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to give the players much better gaming experiences.

Personalization is a core component of the plans to integrate AI. This is attributed to the growing number of online gamblers which has been accompanied by immense growth of data. This means that, without the appropriate tools and technology, it is virtually impossible to crunch the data and use it in a manner that is beneficial to the customers especially when it comes to giving them personalized experiences.

“Help for the user to find their favorite team’s game, or to see what’s going on in one’s personal favorite league, is often not going beyond targeted banners based on pre-selected user segments, or the often-hailed, but rarely used, ‘Favorites’ feature,” Vaix.ai CEO and Co-Founder Andreas Hartmann commented.

The partnership will see to the delivery of a lot of perks such as real-time sports, league, team, event, and market recommendations. All this will be based on data collected about the preferences and tastes of each individual customer.

More Integration to Come

It goes without saying that online gambling is still on the rise and there is a huge technological gap that has been credited due to that. Artificial Intelligence has proven to have a lot of potential in other industries which makes it a viable choice for gambling operators who are looking to go a step further in their quest to attract more customers.

Customer experiences are the main focus of AI integration with gambling platforms but that is just the beginning. Aside from delivering better and more personalized experiences, the gambling operators and regulators have also been utilizing the technology for more noble things. One of these things is the prevention of gambling-related harm which has become quite a big deal due to the rapid growth of the gambling industry. There are several other possibilities as well and we will get to see them in action in the not-so-distant future.

blockchain

Faster Payouts Coming with Blockchain for Online Casinos

 

The global online gambling industry has been on the rise over the past several years and its upward trend is expected to last a few more years. As much as the industry is on a roll and is growing at a very fast pace, it has still been plagued by a number of challenges. Both the online gamers and the gaming operators have felt the pinch of these shortcomings. One of the most notable ones is the noticeably slow payouts that have left gamblers frustrated and the gaming operators without customers.

Thankfully, several solutions are being considered for these challenges and the blockchain is perhaps one of the most popular ones. This is simply because the technology has bee marketed as the best possible solution for challenges pertaining to quick payouts and greater transparency.

The credibility of many online casinos has been questioned despite the growing number of users and online gambling platforms.  In essence, this means that both the customers and the operators are not able to fully capitalize on the growth. Features such as Trustless gaming are increasingly becoming important buzzwords in the world of online gambling and with time, they might just define how every gaming operator works in the future.

Cost Reduction

Hidden fees are still one of the biggest challenges that customers face when making withdrawals from their online casino accounts. These extortionate charges are often not justifiable and may dig deep into the players’ winnings. No one wants that.

Aside from the fact that blockchain transactions are meant to be superfast, there is also a lot of optimism that it will play a big role in reducing the fees gamblers are charged by a fairly huge margin. Digital currencies are increasingly becoming viable payment options in both the world of gambling as well as in other sectors and this perhaps the first step towards affordable transactions.

Revolutionizing Online Gambling

Online gambling has indeed come a long way since it was conceptualized and the first online gambling platforms launched. Now, it seems like the industry is ready for yet another revolution as the sector goes through massive evolution especially with regards to the operation of the gaming sites. Blockchain and crypto are becoming an integral part of our online gaming experiences and even though they are just beginning to take off, their potential impact can already be felt. Fair, transparent and affordable online gambling is making a comeback like never before.

mintdice-btc-casino

MintDice Extends Investment Perks for Its Customers

Renowned bitcoin casino MintDice is considered to be one of the best crypto-based gaming platforms on the planet. It is also a top contender in the general online gambling space that is dominated by a number of popular gaming brands with vast amounts of resources and several years’ worth of experience. The online gaming platform attributes its success in the gaming space to its dedication to bringing the best of innovation and creativity to its users. One of the ways it has done this is by giving its customers the opportunity not just to play but also invest.

MintDice which has a reputation for offering the best bitcoin dice and bitcoin slots games leverages the power of digitization to serve its users. Digital currencies such as bitcoin are loved for the transparency they provide as well as the applications that they can support. That said, MintDice is offering the customers an incentive to enjoy crypto dice and slot games while at the same time earning from their digital currency investments.

The casino has recently doubled down on its efforts to promote its investment product allowing customers to play while enjoying nearly double the chances of winning.

Play and Invest

As mentioned earlier, MintDice is already a stellar online gaming platform and you will definitely not go wrong if you choose it. With its investment feature, the casino’s customers do not have to worry about being the casualties of quick and significant successive losses. The online casino basically offers a risk mitigation feature that effectively protects the platform from such kinds of external pressures.

The online casino currently offers its players a total of three types of risk-free investment opportunities. These are:

Crowdfunded Bankrolls

By part of these bankrolls, players will be able to participate in larger bets. This allows the customers to enjoy huge profits but within some rather lower pays. With this, landing a huge win from a relatively small bet is possible. How amazing is that?

Masternode or Staking Investment

This is a risk-free investment opportunity where the MintDice customers are able to easily make investments in the shared Masternode pools. From these modest investments, the players can then expect to receive handsome payouts from MintDice’s profits. The amount of payout received will, of course, depend on the player’s share size.

Be The Bank

This is another special risk-free investment opportunity where the users are guaranteed a no-risk payout opportunity. They receive 15 percent of each of the bets placed on the online gaming platform and the amount received is based on their share of investment.

bitboss

BitBoss Launches Tokenized-Powered Casino Tokens

 

Casino blockchain app BitBoss last month launched the very first casino tokens on the Tokenized Protocol for mobile gambling. The move, though relatively subtle, is set to completely revolutionize the gambling experience on the blockchain.

For this venture, the real money gaming solutions developer has leveraged Bitcoin SV. This has been achieved by embedding the casino blockchain app’s baccarat and lottery games within a dedicated Bitcoin SV (BSV) wallets. These games can be powered by either the native BSV tokens or custom tokens – a great example of custom tokens will be those that are created and branded specifically for use in a single casino.

Thanks to the utilization of the BSV blockchain, the platform enables provably fair gambling with both the bets and results being written to BSV transactions. On the same note, the payments are adjudicated and administered by smart contracts and to complement this, double-spend protection has been built into the platform.

How Does It Work?

Alex Shore, the co-founder, and CTO of BitBoss recently wrote a post that describes exactly how the platform makes use of smart contracts to process both bets and transactions. According to the post, as the players’ bets are sent to the Bitcoin SV blockchain, one of the smart contracts that are designed for BitBoss will process the bet before placing its results as well as the payout transaction back onto the chain.

“They include their double-spend prevention technology when using native BSV, and leverage Tokenized’s double-spend prevention when bets are placed using a custom token,” Alex Shore’s post reads.

Now, the company is focusing on integrating slot machines, a move that will allow slot machine lovers to directly send tokens between the slot machines and their device wallets. For this venture, there is a major emphasis on mobile games which have been growing in popularity all across the globe.

Bitcoin Genesis Upgrade on the Horizon

To further improve the player experience, BitBoss is also now taking steps to ensure that their software will transition smoothly and seamless into 2020. To that effect, the company has recently announced that they will be upgrading their Keyring libraries in order to support the new OP_FALSE OP_RETURN script type. As it turns out, this is a totally mandatory step since Bitcoin SV will be returning to the original Bitcoin protocol with its 2020 Genesis upgrade.

This move was primarily influenced by advice from the technical director of the Bitcoin SV node project, Steve Shadders. In many ways, by updating their own code this early own, BitBoss will be getting months of the shift while keeping its services running for their customers to enjoy.

Tron Bet Crypto Gambling Expansion Set for August 8

TronBet, one of the world’s leading blockchain-based platforms, has done a great job in its effort to bring blockchain technologies inherent anonymity, security, and transparency to the online gambling space. The company’s goal has always been to democratize an industry where the users have often raised concerns pertaining to arbitrary behavior from service providers.

The team behind the disruptive company has recently published details of its newly rebranded business model. This planned migration from platform’s native cryptocurrency ANTE to its new cryptocurrency WIN. The plans have already begun to materialize with 5 percent of the newly minted WIN token set to be released on August 8 on Binance. This move is part of the projects Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) which, in the world of blockchain startups, is the equivalent of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

WIN, the new cryptocurrency, has been designed to allocate winnings from TronBet’s house-edge along with profits from its advertising revenues to token holder. This is one of the world’s very first distributed earnings model that leverages blockchain technology. As expected, from now henceforth, the platform will be rebranded as WINk and the platform’s broad range of crypto gambling products and services will enjoy formal trading licenses from the government of Curacao and Costa Rica.

New Strategy

TronBet arguably only comes second to Bitcoin when it comes to being one of the world most successful blockchain-powered products. However, the TronBet is setting some very ambitious goals with the major rebrand that is currently on the way. Their plan is to take the platform to a wider user-base as it leverages strategic partnerships with both Binance and BitTorrent. The latter was just recently acquired by Tron for a whopping $126 million.

Now, as far as its strategies are concerned, the project has plans to expand its development so that it can accommodate payment for its services through the more traditional banking methods like credit cards and eWallets. In essence, TronBet’s transition from ANTE to WIN is set to change a number of aspects in the company’s business model over the long-term. In addition to that, the transition is also set to allow for a greater chance for the token’s price to rise fundamentally over time instead of relying on the same speculative movements that define price in the broader crypto environment.

It goes without saying that blockchain technology seems to be one of the leading ways of bringing much-needed improvements to the online gambling industry. In fact, some analysts believe that crypto and blockchain are going to completely redefine the space. TronBet clearly knows about this and it is working quite hard to ensure that it is a part of this revolution.

bitcoincasino-io

BitcoinCasino.io Adds New Gaming Providers to Its List

Having started as nothing more than a simple crypto casino, Bitcoincasino.io has grown tremendously and is now considered to be among the top online gambling domains thanks to the outstanding products and services that it offers both digital currency enthusiasts and fiat currency users. Licensed by the government of Curacao, the crypto casino is not only legitimate but also assures all customers of safe and secure gaming experiences.

Bitcoincasino.io has been at the forefront of the crypto gambling industry for quite some time now and this is mostly because of the partnerships that the company has formed in the past. Now, it boasts of games from a total of 26 different software providers. This number continues to grow as the crypto-powered gaming operator partners with more software providers.

Partnership with Evoplay Entertainment

Most recently, Evoplay Entertainment has signed a lucrative supply deal with Bitcoincasino.io, a move that will give the leading online gaming platform the go-ahead to feature some of the most highly sought-after games in the online gambling industry.

Over the years, Evoplay Entertainment has morphed from its relatively humble beginnings to become one of the biggest online casino gambling solutions on the planet. Last year, the company flexed its innovation muscles when it became the very first software provider to unravel a 3D/VR slots game. In addition to that, the platform also features an impressive portfolio of more than 50 slots, table games, and instant games.

For slot lovers, Evoplay Entertainment’s titles are among the best in the industry – its collection of 57 titles will undoubtedly make the gaming experience truly memorable for each and every Bitcoincasino.io customer.

Net Entertainment Games Are Available

Scandinavian-based Net Entertainment is one of the biggest software game developers in the industry and therefore the addition of its polished and extremely popular game titles to Bitcoincasino.io’s portfolio is bound to be noticed and appreciated. While slots seem to be the main priority for this particular partnership, there is the possibility that live dealer games, table games, and even progressive jackpots will also make the cut.

Yggdrasil and No Limit City Join the Fun

Already customers of the crypto casino site can access a variety of Yggdrasil’s amazing online slots – these include fan-favorite titles such as Penguin City, Rainbow Ryan, Wolf Hunters, Nitro Success, Orient Express as well as Oswin’s Jackpots which is a progressive slot title.

Last but definitely not least is renowned game developer No Limit City. Being relatively new to the online gambling industry, No Limit City has grown rapidly and the inclusion of its products on Bitcoincasino.io is proof that it is worthy of competing with the big boys of the online gaming industry. Some of the popular No-Limit City titles that are currently live on Bitcoincasino.io include Coins of Fortune, Wixx, Tombstone, Tesla Jolt and Ice Ice Yeti.

litecoin

Litecoin Gambling on the Rise

Digital currencies have been around for quite some time now and therefore it is safe to say that at least every single person will be familiar with at least one of them. In most cases, it is bitcoin, which is considered to be the mother of all cryptocurrencies having been around for the longest time. People and businesses have used these digital currencies in different capacities as they offer an alternative to cash and cards while at the same time offering transparency and anonymity, both of which are not really readily offered by fiat currency.

While digital currencies are yet to fully replace fiat in most areas, they have grown to become very useful forms of exchange and one of the most notable applications is in gambling. Still, bitcoin is by far one of the most widely accepted cryptocurrencies on online gaming platforms. However, things are changing rapidly in this regard and even though it will be almost impossible for bitcoin to be dethroned as the king of cryptocurrencies, other digital coins are beginning to at least match up to the threshold that bitcoin has reached. One of the cryptocurrencies that are headed in that direction is Litecoin.

The Perks of Litecoin

Just like bitcoin, Litecoin relies on a specific encrypted protocol that creates and transfers the Litecoin with no central authority overseeing or managing the transactions. However, unlike bitcoin, Litecoin processes a block of the ledger every 2.5 minutes as opposed to the just a little less than 10 minutes that bitcoin takes to produce a block – in essence, this implies that Litecoin confirms transactions faster than bitcoin and this great for gamblers who prefer to have their transactions to be processed as quickly as possible.

Litecoin also utilizes a memory-based algorithm which implies that there is more memory in the Litecoin system than there is in the bitcoin system. With all these goodies that are offered by the Litecoin technology, there is bound to be a catch which, in this case, happens to be that the faster and larger memory that the digital currency boasts of are much more expensive to operate.

Even so, Litecoin has managed to offer a plethora of exclusive features that have kept users streaming in for the same. Not only did the digital currency adapt very well to new technologies, but it also introduced such features as transaction canceling which is something that other cryptocurrencies are lacking. Furthermore, player safety and security are always guaranteed but as always this may depend on whether you are playing at a reputable and recommended online gaming platform that accepts Litecoin as a form of payment.

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Binance Now Allowing Bitcoin Purchase Using Credit Cards

On January 31, Binance, which is the largest cryptocurrency exchange on the planet announced that users of the platform will now be able to buy digital currencies using debit and credit cards. This will facilitate through a partnership that the exchange has recently inked with Simplex, a fully-licensed financial institution that is known for its fraud-protected payment processing services.

With this new system, the crypto exchange’s users will be able to buy Ethereum, bitcoin, and Litecoin among other currencies using Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards with the process taking an average minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of 30 minutes. There will also be a transaction fee of $10 or 3.5 percent of the transaction.

According to Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, the move to integrate credit and debit cards onto the platform was mainly motivated by efforts by the company to give the traders faster, easier and more accessible methods of trading digital currencies. The partnership with Simple was therefore well thought-out since it will effectively assist in bridging mainstream payments and crypto for traders all over the world.

The use of credit cards and debit cards in crypto trading is very rare since most exchanges usually refuse them altogether or charge very high transaction processing fees in order to discourage traders from using them. This is quite justifiable due to the risk of chargebacks. These occur when fraudsters gain unauthorized access to a credit or debit card then use it to buy crypto – usually, once the owner of the card regains control of their banking accounts, the credit/debit companies will issue a chargeback and the cost may then be passed on the merchant which, in this case, is the cryptocurrency exchange. Simplex is the perfect partners for Binance since it not only solves the risk problem through what they are calling a “guaranteed fraud-less payment processing” system but also because they are one of the very few companies that will absorb chargeback-related costs.

Is This the Key to Mainstream Adoption?

Binance’s long term goal has been to avail its services available to the wider public and the integration of card payments is certainly going to help with this. As parts of its global expansion plans, the company recently launched two fiat-to-crypto exchanges; Binance.je supports trading in British Pounds and Euros with crypto while Binance Uganda is supporting trading crypto with Ugandan Shillings.

“The crypto industry is still in its early stages and most of the world’s money is still in fiat. Building fiat gateways is what we need now to grow the ecosystem, increase adoption and introduce crypto to more users,” the company’s CEO pointed out.

If crypto is going to go mainstream in the near future, there is no company that is better suited to lead the industry than Binance. The fact that it remains to be the leading crypto exchange will help a lot in pushing this agenda.

jimi-hendrix-slots

Metal and Rock-Themed Slot Machines Are Now a Thing

Since the dawn of online slot games, music has not been front and center of the general themes of the games even though it is impossible to deny the fact that sounds take the gaming experience to a whole new level. In fact, today almost every slot machine title has a special soundtrack accompanying the amazing graphics and smooth animations. But that is definitely not all. Now, there is a new trend where online gaming sites offer video slot games based on popular musicians and bands.

Almost all of the existing slot machine titles are inspired by popular culture, that is, players will come across video slot games based on sports, movies, celebrities, and other classic characters. In general, there is always something for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Innovation in the gaming space has seen to it that there is a variety of different kinds of games that players can choose from.

Music-themed video slot games are a newer addition to the online slot machine space and they are gaining more popularity by the day particularly because of the diverse nature of music and the artists themselves. Even so, metal and rock music have often trailed behind in this regard but things are changing with more developers catering to rock and metal fans through the development of video slot games depicting various elements of the culture. The choices are still rather tight but some of these slot machine games will definitely appeal to rock n roll and metal famous primarily because they are inspired by famous music icons and bands. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Jimi Hendrix

As its name suggests, this NetEnt video slot is inspired by Jimi Hendrix and is meant for people who enjoyed the artist’s music. Not only does it come with all the impressive graphics and animations that NetEnt slot machine titles are famous for but it also features a number of exclusive features that make it a truly outstanding reel spinning experience.

Guns N’ Roses

Released in early 2016 by NetEnt, this slot machine game was inspired by the band’s 30 birthday and made in collaboration with the Bravado International Group. The game is well-made in nearly all aspects and offers players the chance to experience a whole new dimension of interaction with one of the most legendary rock bands of all time. To put this into perspective, players can actually play on a live stage and enjoy spinning the reels as the crowd cheers. Furthermore, players also get to listen to the band’s music as they play.

Motorhead

This game (also from NetEnt) brings another iconic band to the palms of players’ hands. Expect to be blown away especially if you are a fan of heavy metal music.