The huge surge in internet penetration throughout China presents a unique opportunity for cryptocurrency gambling operators to establish a powerful new financial industry, according to cryptocurrency expert Darin Oliver.
Oliver, whose company is developing a blockchain casino platform called BlockDraw, believes the Chinese market will inevitably have a similar impact in the online gaming space as it has in the land-based sphere. But it is cryptocurrency that he sees as the medium that can best serve the needs of Chinese players in the long-term.
“From a business standpoint, there’s no question that Asia is a massive growth region for online gaming,” Oliver told Inside Asian Gaming at G2E in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “One of the ways to understand growth in gambling is to look at internet penetration rates. Countries that have rapidly growing internet penetration rates tend to have high acceptance of new online gamblers.
“Russia, for example, is expected to add 20 million internet users in the next five years. Ukraine will add 5 to 10 million. But China is estimated at 120 million – that’s the size of a large country!
“Now, that’s growth in terms of internet penetration, but let’s also talk about crypto. The biggest growth markets for crypto are China, Asia and Eastern Europe which happen to be the same markets for gambling, so you’re getting a very unique opportunity for a new industry to occur in that space.
“When you have these new opportunities for a financial industry to occur and you have growth occurring in certain sectors, it represents an incredible opportunity which is why I’m very bullish on online gambling, particularly crypto-only online gambling.”
According to Oliver, China’s crackdown on capital outflow also broadens the appeal of cryptocurrency.
“The Chinese have a difficult time cracking down on crypto because it’s very moveable … and it’s not a surprise that crypto is popular in countries where the currency is questionable,” he said. “The idea that they can block crypto is nonsense. These countries already have problems with their currencies – every country in Eastern Europe struggles to have faith in their currency and the same rings true of the Chinese.”
Oliver explained that BlockDraw is now actively working on a solution to the one big stumbling block currently facing all budding cryptocurrency gaming operators – how to run a crypto casino when tokens tend to be so volatile?
“That’s a really good question and it’s one we’re addressing in BlockDraw” he said. “We’re trying to come up with a solution to create a stable token for our platform.”
