A decentralized wagering platform has the potential to offer huge advantages to many individuals, and the timing of Peerplays release seems perfect.
The best chance that a decentralized wagering or hedging platform has to gain success is through offering individuals access to betting and gaming applications that offer direct advantages over the current centralized platforms that exist. Cryptocurrencies have been used on many traditional gambling sites for some time now, so many individuals who are active on the traditional platforms would likely be much more accepting of the idea of using cryptocurrencies for wagering. Due to regulatory restrictions in many different regions of the world, individuals have been using online wagering and gambling services more than they ever have before. The increasing interest in blockchain technology in addition to the desire for better online wagering platforms could prove to be a very powerful combination.
As individuals begin to become more accepting of blockchain technology, the potential of projects that offer practical use cases for end users increases drastically. While increased interest causes more investment in many projects, it really doesn't have nearly as large of an impact on bringing more end users to the platform. While the wagering DApps have yet to be released, I have to assume they will be over the following months. Like Steemit, Peerplays offers individuals the ability to interact with the blockchain directly and easily without even realizing it. Installing the GUI Peerplays wallet is very simple, and the wallet interface is very fast, reliable, and aesthetically pleasing.
Individuals who are involved in online gambling likely have more technical knowledge and understanding than most people, but most will likely have sufficient understand to be able to download and install the GUI wallet. Individuals present on online gaming platforms also have a higher chance of knowing about Bitcoin compared to the general population, which leads me to believe that they would be much more open to the concept of wagering using cryptocurrency. While there have been very few transactions on the network so far, the network shows serious promise of being capable of handling the activity level that would accompany mainstream adoption. Peerplays runs on a Graphene based blockchain, meaning it runs on the most reliable and powerful blockchains in existence.
Peerplays offers incentives to investors and users alike.
Not only does Peerplays end users an opportunity for provably fair gaming, but it also encourages users and investors to hold PPY tokens, because PPY tokens actually entitle the holder to earnings similar to 'dividends'. While the platform doesn't offer 'dividends' in the traditional sense, token holders are entitled to a portion of the network fees and earnings. PPY tokens have value on the platform, as they are required for actions such as creation of witness accounts and other operations on the platform. The fees are likely to scale with the value of the tokens as time goes on, and basic operations will likely remain inexpensive. There are currently some actions such as updating a witness that costs .5PPY, which many have expressed concern about that being too high. As the project is able to continue development the necessary changes will likely be able to be agreed upon and implemented.
Another advantage that Peerplays will be able to offer to businesses and users alike is the fact that the legality of Peerplays in many regions would fall into a grey area. From the research I have done and from things I have heard others say, regulation in places like the US and Canada would need to be modified in order for Peerplays to be considered gambling. Because there will never be any fiat currency wagered on the platform, it would be very difficult to classify wagering on the Peerplays network as gambling under many current regulations. While its completely realistic to assume that the regulations would follow quickly after adoption, the initial period would give witnesses and businesses to establish themselves in regions with more friendly regulations.
Peerplays itself is really just the software to enable this type of platform to come to life, and the Peerplays development team is completely disconnected from any activities on the network or platform. Like other blockchains, there is no owner or centralized point of origin, so it would be impossible for a regulatory agency or government to disable or take down the network. While governments could restrict the use of the platform within their jurisdiction, no one has the ability to 'shut off' the network. This may seem obvious to those of us who are experienced with blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, many new users may find it helpful to have that explained.
Peerplays, like Steemit, offers practical use cases of blockchain technology that end users have the ability to access easily and conveniently. Not only does Peerplays give users easy, reliable, and instant access blockchain, but it also has the technical capability to scale with the traffic that the network experiences. Graphene blockchains utilize horizontal scaling rather than vertical scaling, which gives workers on the network the ability to increase their infrastructure easily, quickly, and much more efficiently than they otherwise would. The actual capabilities of the Peerplays network have not yet been shown, but the network has been producing blocks like clockwork over the past week.
Many of you may not know but yesterday the network increased from 23 active witnesses to putting all 47 witnesses active, and the vast majority of witnesses were able to handle any issues they encountered quickly. I am currently ranked 46 out of 49, but I still couldn't be happier or more excited to be able to be involved and prove my capabilities. There was an issue with a typo in a specific guide that many witnesses used which caused some of them to miss some blocks, but most were able to quickly recover. Like Steem, all of the active witnesses produce a block every round regardless of their ranking, and I have been overjoyed to have had the ability to produce blocks over the past 24 hours. I have yet to miss any, and my witness has not experienced any issues since going live. Missing blocks is not a huge deal right now because there are very few blocks that actually contain transactions, and I think most witnesses who did miss some blocks have shown that this was a fluke and would be unlikely to happen again.I think this initial period will give stakeholders a good idea of who the reliable and trusted witnesses are, and they will take much more than simply the number of missed blocks into consideration.
I really hope that you enjoyed this post, and I urge you to leave any comments, questions, input, ect below. Thanks for reading!
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