Brandt Page, Chief Executive Officer at BitBlox, outlines why he believes cryptocurrency will continue to have a huge impact on the development of the iGaming space in 2024/25, before dispelling some of the biggest misconceptions about the use of digital currencies.
Do you think crypto may continue to grow in popularity throughout 2025, or is it a passing fad? If so, which currencies do you think will be the most popular with bettors?
We are very much still in the early stages when it comes to the adoption of cryptocurrency, particularly in the iGaming space. I think a lot of people probably missed the fact that the way Bitcoin has been designed lends itself to continually going up over time in terms of how the rewards work for people that are mining Bitcoin.
If we were to plot this on a scale, we’re still in the very early stages of crypto as a cycle. To be honest, I don’t think we have any real visibility on the possibilities that blockchain can actually deliver. We’ve seen things such as NFTs rise in popularity, but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.
I think we’re at an equivalent stage to the beginning of the .com boom back in the 1990s. People are starting to dabble in the world of crypto, but we still don’t quite know who the big players are just yet. The internet has the likes of Google and Apple, but who might that be in the crypto space? We don’t know whether there is going to be one ‘winning’ blockchain or several key players. The only thing we do know is that the possibilities will be endless.
In your view, what are some of the biggest misconceptions about crypto among bettors? And how do you navigate those?
I think the biggest thing is that people tend to overcomplicate cryptocurrency. There are certain technical elements, such as building on-chain, creating different projects. Fundamentally, the technology behind blockchain is as simple as a ledger. It essentially acts as a record for transactions and cannot be erased.
It is a much more transparent, secure way of keeping track of transactions. That’s really fundamentally what blockchain technology is about. It’s about an immutable record of transactions that people cannot change or alter.
I can understand why it’s hard for people to get their head around the technical side of cryptocurrencies – there is a lot going on behind the scenes! But I think if you strip it back to what blockchain is trying to do, I think the best way to understand it is that it is removing the middleman from any transactions.
As an example, if I wanted to send my friend some Bitcoin, I wouldn’t need a bank or financial institution to oversee that transaction. It’s a trustless system whereby all transactions are validated, you don’t need clearing houses. I think this is why some very, very large industries – particularly finance-related sectors – are starting to get heavily involved in cryptocurrency. If they don’t, crypto could potentially pose a threat to their industry. In other words, they don’t want their lunch to be eaten by someone else.
Are gaming companies doing enough to capitalise on the growth of crypto?
I think gaming companies have done a very good job of letting players use crypto to bet. But I don’t really think the industry has made the most of cryptocurrency-based projects … yet. Although there are a few exceptions to that.
One of the most promising examples that I’ve seen in the industry so far is the Fast Token project from BetConstruct. That is something that I don’t think anyone else has really done, in terms of what they’re building.
There have also been a handful of successful operators that are starting to issue their own tokens, which can be used in a similar fashion to incentives or rewards for players. We’ve seen some used to award bonuses, free spins, whatever it might be. They are using these tokens as an integral part of their own rewards ecosystem and, ultimately, creating communities of players.
That is something that I think the crypto space has done a very good job of, that perhaps the iGaming industry hasn’t really capitalised on enough. We’re only really seeing companies start to focus on that element of community in 2024. But communities build a lot of loyalty with players.
Larger, more established gaming companies took their player base for granted for quite some time because they knew that players would come back. But now that this industry is becoming so much more competitive, it is much more of a battle to engage and retain players. This is where crypto can come in handy.
I think there’s a whole array of things that can still be done in relation to crypto in the gambling space, we’re only at the beginning of that journey. But I think, as I said, crypto as a mechanism to play games is a big plus. The gaming industry isn’t quite at the stage where they are embedding crypto or Web3 technologies into the main part of their business, but I strongly believe that will change in the future.
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