A major online poker website has been buying millions of dollars of bitcoin every day to meet demand from players who want to swap out money in bitcoin. This equates to $ 100 million in bitcoin a month as about 95% of players are now demanding payments in the cryptocurrency.
Poker Site Buys $ 100 Million Bitcoin
Demand for bitcoin payments has been increasing, especially after the recent price rally. One of the largest online poker websites, Winning Poker Network (WPN), has been buying millions of dollars worth of bitcoin in recent weeks from OTC desks to meet players’ cash demand, Bloomberg reported Thursday, by notes WPN CEO Phil Nagy.
Nagy explained that bitcoin was so much in demand that brokers charge up to a 1.5% premium. He explained that WPN does not hold bitcoin, adding that the cryptocurrency is converted into fiat currency as soon as possible.
It revealed that its platform makes more than 60% of its transaction volume in bitcoin, amounting to about $ 100 million a month. Noting that around 60% of customers had exchanged for currency in bitcoin before the recent price rally, he said:
Currently 90-95% of our outbound payments are people who ask for bitcoin because it is going up. We always have to go out and buy bitcoin – a lot. Lots. More than we have had to do before.
WPN, which started accepting bitcoin in 2014, supports several popular poker rooms, including Americascardroom.eu, Yapoker.com, Blackchippoker.eu, Truepoker.eu and Pokerking.com. Customers can deposit dollars and withdraw cash in bitcoin. Nagy revealed that about 60% of the platform’s customers are from the United States although online poker is illegal in most states.
According to a study by The Business Research Co., the poker industry grew 43% since April. Online gambling has become more popular since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, especially after the shutters prevented many people from visiting real casinos.
Bitcoin.com offers a variety of fairly decent games, including blackjack, slots, roulette, and video poker using either bitcoin or bitcoin cash only. Games are very fair and the payments are out immediately.
What do you think of poker websites buying millions of dollars of bitcoin every day? Let us know in the comments section below.
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