Competitive gaming is becoming more popular the world over. With more people playing games than ever before, the market for video game exports has been booming. With that rise has come some controversy, such as the UK’s back and forth stance on loot boxes as gambling, but the overall response has been quite positive. Even major sports networks have noticed the rise of competitive gaming, such as the head of the NBA wanting to adopt Twitch’s formula for views.
In parallel, this rise in popularity is Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has made it easier than ever to exchange money with people all over the world. Bitcoin has seen its equal share of criticism and scepticism, and it has risen beyond that to be a dominating currency that holds more value than ever. Naturally, these two digital underdogs were a match made in heaven. Bitcoin and competitive gaming coexist in perfect harmony.
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Besides the fact that you can buy digital keys and gift cards for your favorite MOBAs with bitcoin, bitcoin is also great for betting on your favorite teams during tournaments and gaming seasons. Competitive gaming is a global phenomenon, and Bitcoin has opened up the entire world to a single currency for such a purpose.
League of Legends and Overwatch aren’t the end of Bitcoin’s relationship with gambling, though. Online casinos have latched onto the cryptocurrency, and now players all over the world have a unified currency to play under. Popular sites like Vegas Casino offer a number of fun games that pay out in bitcoin such as slots, blackjack, and roulette. You can also learn a lot about online gambling from the Vegas bitcoin blog, including what games have the best payout and reviews on the newest games.
The Bitcoin/gaming relationship goes beyond the competitive world, though. The online game industry was one of the first industries to accept bitcoin as an acceptable form of payment. Many sites and clients like OpenBazaar have been selling physical copies of games as well as digital gift cards for quite a while, but official game websites have also picked up on the cryptocurrency. Steam, the largest digital library of games, also started accepting bitcoin as a form of payment and is arguably one of the most well-known platforms in any industry to do so, although recently they decided to stop accepting it due to high volatility – at least for now. Newegg, a company that has always embraced online forms of payment such as PayPal in the past, is also one of the first major players to adopt bitcoin as a form of payment. Newegg is a popular computer system and parts site and is often the first stop for PC gamers when building or updating their rig.
Competitive gaming will continue to grow at a staggering rate, just as bitcoin has. As both increase in popularity, their relationship will also likely grow closer and closer. Both competitive gaming and bitcoin are prime examples of how the digital age is bringing people of all nations closer and closer together.