Continuing a recent trend of taking a sneak peak into innovation in online casino, a certain degree of uncertainty still swirls around the sector regarding what role blockchain can potentially play within online casinos.
Following recent 100 Club findings that online casino professionals were far from convinced about blockchain’s future role in the sector, CasinoBeats spoke to Juliet Adelstein, chief operating officer of GanaEight Coin, a project that is developing a blockchain-based online casino platform, and forms part of Japanese igaming firm Ganapati Group.
Regarding the sceptical outlook from some quarters regarding the potential of blockchain in online casino: “I don’t think it’s just those in the online casino sector that are sceptical of blockchain – or any new technology for that matter – people are often wary of change. For our industry a lot of it comes down to the fact that the gambling world is naturally set in its ways, and therefore slow to embrace new trends.
“Many are suspicious of blockchain and scared to be one of the first to embrace it. That’s why it’s mainly startups and mid-sized businesses that are the ones looking to adopt blockchain in this industry.
“It’s surely only a matter of time before big names in the industry catch on”
“If you look at other industries in the past, they were no different when it came to new tech. Take banking for example, many were sceptical at first about online banking and card only payments – fast forward to 2019 and card payments have now overtaken cash and app-based banks are booming.
“That’s what we believe blockchain will be like for online casinos – it’s surely only a matter of time before big names in the industry catch on and start to take an interest in blockchain”.
Continuing the theme, Adelstein moves on to address what evolution could be felt within igaming should blockchain’s embrace by the industry stretch further still: “At present there are a number of issues in igaming, that largely come down to trust, or lack thereof. The lack of transparency in online casinos creates concerns amongst players. Blockchain can alleviate this issue and really evolve the industry.
“Blockchain based casino platforms have a decentralised system which means third party data is not needed, making it impossible for casinos to manipulate games. Players can see that they are winning or losing according to a game’s predetermined RTPs. All this makes for a transparent way of operating between users and providers.”
GanaEight Coin, an online casino that’s building its own blockchain platform, token and wallet, is labelled an ‘anti-ICO’ because of it’s a stablecoin status, but why is this so crucial: “The G8C token is an “anti-ICO” which we’ve created to fix a worldwide problem. There are so many failed and scam ICOs out there that we’ve decided enough is enough.
“Being a stablecoin further strengthens the trust between players and online casinos”
“Our G8C token is a stablecoin, which means its value won’t fluctuate – G8C’s value is to be pegged to online casino players’ bets, a genuine market first for the industry. Being a stablecoin further strengthens the trust between players and online casinos as the token exists for a purpose, unlike many others.”
Before adding why the decision was made to build its own blockchain platform, token and wallet: “To truly embody transparency, we decided to build our own blockchain platform, token and wallet. That way we could ensure that we could adhere to regulations across the whole scope of G8C.
“It’s important for us to see an industry well-regulated and operated and that’s what we’ve set out to achieve with G8C. Our CEO is a lawyer, and our entire blockchain suite is there to be a shining light in what can be a murky industry. We’re here to make positive changes and with our platform, token and wallet under our control, it means we can see our goals through”.
