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According to the Sports Betting Global Market Report 2022, researched by the Business Research Company, blockchain is one of the fastest-growing trends in global sport and casino betting. The report points to Bitgame as one of the pioneers of blockchain-based iGaming applications. Bitgame originated in Poland but is now licensed and regulated by the laws of Curacao. Savvy users may not consider this to be a positive sign, with many more iGaming jurisdictions offering much tighter regulatory frameworks including the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). UKGC-licensed operators can be trusted to offer transparent and legitimate bonuses for first-time and existing customers, while those regulated by lesser-known jurisdictions may have fewer restrictions that pose greater security and financial risks to consumers.

Bitgame enables users to deposit and bet with cryptocurrency, as well as its own native utility tokens, Lucky Tokens (LUT). It is said to be live in the US, the UK, South Korea, Singapore and many other nations, although it is strictly unregulated in most of these jurisdictions. With the LUT tokens, all Bitgame users can benefit from a profit-sharing arrangement, whereby free mining rewards are given in LUT for any active bettors on the Bitgame platform.

The Bitgame brand proudly states its “vision” to become a “multi-dimensional entertainment platform”, with some 50 million active users and 1,200 in-house people by 2025. Is this a vision that can actually become a reality or are operators like these going to fail in their efforts to get crypto-based iGaming recognized as a credible entertainment offering?

Why regulators currently steer clear of blockchain-based iGaming

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Although many of the leading iGaming operators are keen to give their customers the utmost in payment flexibility – including the use of cryptocurrencies – the leading iGaming jurisdictions take a rather dimmer view of the crypto landscape. As the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) states, the “inherent nature” of crypto assets is one of volatility. Thereby offering “no reliable basis” for valuation against other real-world assets.

That’s the real issue that operators face with cryptocurrency. With the wild bull and bear swings in the crypto markets, one day a cryptocurrency could be worth $1 and the next it could be worth only $0.75.

The other big issue for established regulators like the UKGC is its commitment to tackling cyber fraud. Its use of the Know Your Customer (KYC) framework is part of its compliance process for licensed operators. KYC is designed to ensure operators can be confident that their customers can afford what they are wagering and that the funds aren’t derived from ill-gotten activities. Given that the primary benefit of blockchain-based assets is anonymity, this is at odds with the concept of KYC.

Another major reason that the UKGC and other well-respected iGaming jurisdictions opt to steer consumers away from using unlicensed and unregulated operators is the lack of player protections in place. All UKGC-licensed operators must comply with regulations which state that responsible and safer gambling tools and provisions must be active and made available to all vulnerable customers. Unlicensed operators generally opt against implementing stringent player protections, nor do they direct or encourage bettors to self-exclude from their platform if they appear to be in danger of losing more than they can afford.

Unlicensed and unregulated operators like Bitgame also have no pressure to deliver best-in-class products and services. Licensed operators are required to offer first-rate product quality and to ensure the fairest possible terms on gameplay and bonuses. This goes hand-in-hand with the lack of consumer recourse too. Unlicensed sites cannot be penalized or charged by consumers for their poor products or customer service, so with no definitive ombudsman to oversee them, it’s easy to see why the unlicensed sector has been described by many industry analysts as the “Wild West” of the iGaming scene.

The reality is that until cryptocurrencies achieve broad-based acceptance from iGaming jurisdictions, blockchain operators will be forced to operate unregulated, which plays neatly into the hands of licensed brands that can continue to use their compliance as a yardstick against the likes of Bitgame and co.

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Employment-oriented online service platform, LinkedIn has now reported that there is an incredibly high demand for employees with experience in crypto.

According to an October 27 report from the platform’s editor Devin Banerjee, data from the Economic Graph team of LinkedIn shows that job postings in the United States which included keywords like “crypto” and “blockchain” went 615% up from what it was in August 2020. The data also indicates that although, many jobs of those jobs came from companies who are already crypto-oriented, or blockchain-related, however, traditional financial institution JPMorgan was one of the top employers for job postings within the digital asset world.

In addition, LinkedIn team said that there’s an expectation for financial services firms to hire even more than three times as many staff who have digital assets exposure, than in 2015.

As at July, job postings by JPMorgan included positions focusing on its efforts in global blockchain development, blockchain-focused software developers, engineers, auditors, as well as marketers. At a time, LinkedIn posted over 30 vacancies for its operations in the U.S. within a single week.

According to Roman Regelman of the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), opportunities in digital assets are quite vast, and now, talents can be attractes in many different ways.

Meanwhile, many other major companies that are not exactly linked with crypto or finance have also posted jobs related to the crypto industry. Back in February, major online retailer Amazon announced that it was seeking a software development manager in Mexico to help with the launch of a new payment product. Also in May, Apple said it preferred someone with experience in “alternative payment providers” — including cryptocurrency — for the position of business development manager.