Hello Steemit.
In celebration of my tenth post on Steemit, I would like to welcome you to a new series called NewCoinTalk (original, I know...), in which as I'm sure the more savvy of will be able to guess is going to be a series about new coins that I come across that I think are worth talking about. Due to the high amount of coins being added every day to the market (which I only expect to grow in size with time) there are a few issues. The first is that a high amount of them aren't going to be great, the second is that there will be some fantastic ones too and that due to the sheer volume of market additions the coins I cover have no guarantee of being in that second category. As such I would like to make a short disclaimer that I will at the end of each article comment on the probability of my investment in the project but that that should not be taken as financial advice.
On the subject of probability, the first coin to be covered in this series will be the CashBet Coin, a coin that came to my attention via CoinDesk via a combination of a few of my passions and interests, cryptocurrency, gambling and football (soccer to some of you). In my native England football is a huge part of the cultural sphere and news and rumours circulating the industry are on the tips of every working class man and we love a bet here in the UK. We may not have Las Vegas, but what we do have is a richly entwined culture of sports based gambling, which I have been part of and have been successful with in the long term (I know. A gambler who wins?). Why is this so important? It's important because CashBet announced a sponsorship partnership with established Premier League football club Arsenal FC, a team with a huge fan base not just here in England, but worldwide. The deal pertains to advertising of the product at home games at the Emirates stadium which has a grand capacity of 59,867 as well as being able to fully integrate the Arsenal imagery and likeness into their ICO marketing as seen below.
The real question is though, does this make it a good product? Not neccesarily, but with it still being in it's ICO period it's hard to say. The website claims that 'through its incorporation of novel blockchain technology into its revolutionary iGaming platform, CashBet intends to become the undisputed leader in enterprise software for the crypto-casino market.' But hasn't the betting blockchain idea been performed already? (eg. FunFair & Edgeless) Well, yes it has been done but what hasn't been done more than once on the blockchain now? The difference is that with CashBet they're taking an already established model, their iGaming platform and utilising the functionality of blockchain, not building from the ground up and the website claims to have soon a 515% revenue growth since 2015 alone boasting a 770% play amount increase and supports ~450 games already. Alongside sports betting and casino betting they make mention towards eSports betting being part of their plans too and this forward thinking mentality could serve them well as cryptocurrency by nature is an internet community based concept. But for the average working class man, the people who via this Arsenal partnership are going to be exposed to their marketting, what are the main benefits.
For a moment I will drop my understanding of cryptocurrency and the blockchain and put myself in the position of said demographic. As a bet placer, I have a few issues with the current structure of betting services. These seem to be well addressed by CashBet. Firstly is a lack of transparency on the hosts part, when placing regular or large bets how can I be sure that the transactions have been properly fulfilled by both parties, myself and the distributor? The simple answer is, you can't and the platform has the final say on all terms and conditions. Utilisation of the blockchain allows higher levels of transparency by storing all transactions within it their as a public record, meaning all your history is viewable and unable to be tampered with, this solves a big problem. However the larger problem within the online betting industry, one which has affected me personally several times is that of the payout times. CashBet has addressed this issue and to theirs and our benefit as highlighted by the infographic below.
As you can see from this, the problem I and many others face is the reality of the second part of this infographic. The time between winning a bet and receiving payment is too large. Deposits of money are instantaneous, but when it comes to withdrawing your money back often you find a three day waiting period and that's if you don't withdraw on a period that includes a Sunday or is late on a Saturday, ironically enough the time of most football matches taking place. CashBet offers the solution we have all been looking for, instant payment. But is not just us the consumer who benefit from this noteworthy improvement. Surely it serves the payment maker too? A large part of gambling psychology is built around the idea of instant gratification; the win plays a higher role in our continued appreciation and engagement than the loss. An instantly withdrawable win leads to one thing above all, the heightened likelihood of further input of service from the consumer end. It is this part of the project that intrigues me most.
But for the investor looking at this project, what is the likelihood of a return?
This infographic shows the three key market types it intends to benefit so it would seem that every token holder will in some way benefit upwards and I do not doubt that the project will likely be worth more upon market distribution post ICO as is often the case, but to what extent? Could this be a bag-holder trap? The simple answer is that we do not yet know and only an investment into the project will give us this answer.
Will I be investing in this project in it's ICO stage? No. Why? One simple reason. The minimum buy in stake on this project is a staggering $25,000 USD equivalent. If this project goes on to take over the iGaming industry I could well regret that decision but alas the figure is much too high for a project that although good in concept does not offer too much in ways of innovation as a whole and is simply another established company utilising the blockchain's power. Were the figure lower I may have reconsidered my answer as ICO's seem to be the way forward when it comes to generating the larger amounts of funds cryptocurrency has on offer. CashBet Coin could end up making a lot of people very rich, but if they have a spare $25K to throw at project essentially piggybacking off the marketing via Arsenal's advertising boards then they're probably quite rich already.
In positive news: this is great for mass adoption. It's coming.
HJB. CryptoKnight.
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