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Blockchain in The Gaming Industry: A Game Changer

The gaming industry is a dynamic field, teetering on the forefront of technology. At its vanguard is Blockchain, the revolutionary technology that is bound to have a profound impact on real money gaming as well as eSports and video gaming.

Understanding Blockchain

Much like any complex topic, Blockchain invokes a mix of emotions and perspectives. To give a simple overview, a blockchain is a distributed ledger that is open to anyone. Each block contains unique data and a hash, akin to a fingerprint. Crucially, once data is incorporated into a block, it's extremely difficult to change it, and if you do, the hash of the block alters too.

The third essential element is the hash of the preceding block. This interconnected string of blocks – the Blockchain – is incredibly secure due to its distributed nature, operating over a peer-to-peer network that anyone can join. Each addition to the Blockchain is verified by each node on the network, making it an open and transparent system.

Blockchain, Real Money Gaming and Anonymity

In the realm of real money gaming, one of Blockchain's key offerings is anonymity. Players aren't required to divulge personal information for transactions, mitigating the risk of hackers getting hold of their data.

Moreover, the Blockchain model eliminates the need for intermediaries, like banks, resultantly reducing or even nulling transaction fees. Additionally, Bitcoin, because of its finite nature, offers a more stable form of currency.

Taken together, Blockchain offers a high degree of transparency. Information about things like payout rates and the frequency of winning are made openly available, fostering a higher level of trust among players. They can see where their money is going and how trustworthy the platform is, promoting a transparent approach.

Blockchain Challenges in Real Money Gaming

While the benefits are compelling, the adoption of Blockchain does present challenges. For instance, the technology's hallmark feature of anonymity might not appeal to regulators. Without clear checks, it might enable money-laundering activities. There is consequently a need for stricter ID checks and measures to prevent misuse.

Empowering Players in eSports and Video Games

Blockchain transforms the player's position in eSports and video games. Ordinarily, game assets are owned by developers, leaving players with no ownership despite their investment of time and money. Blockchain remedies this by allowing players to secure assets via smart contracts. These can even have real-world implications, paving the way for physical-world interactions based on currencies and exchanges.

Companies like Fuel Games with their God’s Unchained and Age of R players are developing fascinating propositions in this sector.

Bridging the Gap between the Online and the Real World

A standout example is Bboss, a platform built on Bitcoin SV (BSV) that offers a suite of gaming products running both online and offline. Bboss also holds a number of patents for its technology, which allows transactions with negligible fees and fosters greater scalability.

Complications lie in maintaining a balance between decentralisation, reliability, and security. Further, a scenario arises where if players lose their unique Blockchain keys, it can be quite impossible to retrieve them, giving way to additional complications.

Concluding Thoughts

While Blockchain brings a myriad of possibilities, it also poses significant challenges in adoption, particularly from a regulatory standpoint. Although some jurisdictions are slowly accepting casinos and real gaming platforms that employ cryptocurrencies, there is still a long way to go before wide-spread adoption.

Despite these potential obstacles, Blockchain is a rising technology that can no longer be ignored, particularly in the gaming industries. When successfully integrated into operations, it will improve fairness, transparency, and efficiency, ushering in a novel era in gaming.


Video Transcription

Uh So we, we would cover how Blockchain would ultimately impact the gaming industry. Uh So currently, if you look at the gaming industry, it's divided in real money gaming in India. And uh there is e sports and video gaming.I would try to cover like some aspects of it. So uh starting with, first of all, how block, what, what is Blockchain. So if I have to give you an understanding that uh do we understand that block Blockchain is a complex topic with the various positive, negative sort of emotions attached to it? And uh what uh each block contains a set, it's a set of data, it's a distributed ledger in which is completely uh open to anyone. Uh It has a very interesting property that once the data has been installed inside the block, it is uh physically like it is uh impossible to change it, it is very difficult to change it. Uh So for understanding how, how it, how it happens, let us take a closer look at the block. So block uh necessary contains the data with and uh the hash which is a type of and based on it. Uh the hash of every block is unique.

So uh it's, it's a cry cryptographic load and it is unique like a fingerprint. So once the block has been created, uh and it has, has been calculated, therefore, uh changing anything inside the inside that block is ultimately changes the hash of the block as well. And the third element uh in the Blockchain is the hash of the previous block. So, uh for example, if anyone changes any data in the block, so the following blocks would ultimately change and they would no longer be valid, uh ultimately uh to slow, slow down the creation of new blocks. So there is a thing called proof of work which many of you might have heard. For example, in case of Bitcoin, uh it takes like 10 minutes to add uh to recalculate the proof of work and add a new block in the Blockchain. So if you temper with one block, you would need to recalculate the proof of work for all the remaining blocks. And the other reason why why block Blockchain is uh so secure is by being distributed. So instead of a centralized uh and to maintain it, Blockchain uh uses a peer to peer network uh which everyone is allowed to join.

And anyone uh ultimately joining the network gets a full uh access or a copy of the Blockchain, uh which can verify that everything is still uh in order. So only if every node uh each node add added to the Blockchain is verified, then it only it is added to the final uh Blockchain. Uh So these are basically the properties of uh the distributed ledger technology. How, how it works, how we infer for any upcoming technology uh is that each of these properties have a practical relevance to that field. So for example, distributed uh immutable time sta stamped all these uh uh trace back to one of 11 or the other benefits which uh which are there to offer uh in that particular field. So that's how like we'll uh relate it to in this session as well. And uh this is basically example of one of the transactions in which uh whenever uh uh uh transaction is initiated, then it is uh verified by the note. It is uh finally, when it's verified, it is added as a block and then the transaction is a approved now quickly moving towards uh how it is in gaming. So understanding how, how uh it let's start with the real money gaming for that matter first.

So in that uh anonymity is one of the key benefits for the players. For example, that players don't have to put their personal details when it comes to transactions. So their uh data is not at the is not at the potential risk of by website hackers or even uh being supposed to any any other third party for that matter. And uh also there is one very good aspect that the transaction fees is uh limited to or nothing because uh there is no intermediaries such as banks involved in this case. Uh Also, there are the notions that Black Bitcoin because it's finite, it is a very uh good form, a stable form of currency for uh and rather than the traditional form of currencies, which are offered right now. And ultimately, one of the biggest problem in real money gaming uh industry is the transparency. So certain details like winning frequencies, payouts, uh etcetera, uh results are to the players and which is not open to the public. So ultimately, there is an issue of trust but with the help of Blockchain, what we can do is we can resolve this problem as it is a distributed ledger technology where information is visible to everyone in the system.

So for, for that matter, when you play online on Blockchain, if you lose money, you can actually go and see where it is going in the system. So this means that you can see exactly how much where the website runs uh from your deposit and how uh trustworthy. Ultimately, the website is so many uh also uh uh in many uh gaming uh geographies uh which uh where there are no regulations for that matter. Uh Blockchain can ultimately give a lot of transparency and a lot of insight in the hands of players to ultimately uh go and see how their money is being uh transferred on the on the platform because the those operators which are operating in those geographies might not be having a very transparent uh uh like approach towards this.

And they could be even a scam site because they are not operating in a completely white area. Ultimately, also to understand that what block Blockchain can offer in uh the other uh form of gaming like E sports and video games. So uh Blockchain would ultimately render a lot of uh power in the heart in the hands of players. Because currently what happens is uh all the assets in game assets are being owned by the uh by the developers only. So the players, in spite of investing their time and hardened money into buying the assets, they ultimately don't, don't own those assets. So this with the help of Blockchain, the finally developers, uh the players can also get uh get those assets in the form of like smart contracts in which can be uh I mean uh realized in physical world, uh uh like there could be physical world interaction based on currencies and exchange as well.

And uh there are already claims like uh unchained by gods unchained by fuel games and age of R players, which are having very interesting propositions uh in this segment uh and then also is global so that would enable worldwide exchanges of assets. And also the because uh currently it takes a longer, longer time for uh players from all over the world coming through uh different digital platform to finally transfer and buy those assets. So with Blockchain, it could be, the process could be much more streamlined and efficient for, for that matter. And ultimately, as any other technology Blockchain also has a lot of challenges uh uh when it comes to uh when it comes to adoption. So we definitely uh while Blockchain uh it is hailed for anonymity, this feature isn't likely to still sit well with the regulators. So any as any allow, doesn't allow for a checks, anti money laundering processes and self exclusion possibilities. So Blockchain, you can understand from that.

Uh there is no way for the regulators to trace back from where the money is coming from and to whom it is going. So which is currently possible uh because of the in, in development of the banks in between and because of involve so the regulators can trace back. But in Blockchain, it would be completely anonymous. So ultimately, that can also give rise to a lot of money laundering activities happening over the system, which definitely uh something is the dark side of it, which is possible. So there would be uh definitely a need of uh tighter ID checks and also prevention of how the, how this cannot, how to prevent it from being misused. So, crypto based really money gaming shi sites uh should be regulated in the same way as the ones operating with yet or complying with regulations and uh acquiring uh identification of the customer and proper details of it. And however, this is not done uh in the crypto based sites as it's not a prerequisite also.

And in most of the uh most of the geographies, uh for example, Geor, Georgia, Armenia, and there are a lot more Eastern European countries where uh it is not even monitored, the regulators and many payment gateways and the services sites that are based on these risky uh jurisdictions, crypto based uh sites are thriving because they do not ask for any sort of permissions to accept payments also.

So regulators are ultimately trying to be stricter but policies are in place of uh budgets like there are no no yet policies in this place. So it's going to be a long journey and tricky road that how to ultimately get to that state where players accept the terms of services. Uh and finally decide uh but they can decide whether uh whether they want to believe in that website or not like to play on. And also uh uh because uh uh it, it is uh se it block Blockchain has required a separate key. So if definitely, if it is lost, uh it is uh ultimately um not uh possible to retrieve uh by its very nature. And uh uh one of the main reasons uh why, why this Blockchain is having because it's, it's, there is a there is a problem like uh uh struggles to balance between uh decentralization, liability and security. Like uh to achieve the, the sweet spot between the three is what uh the current uh I mean, solutions need to achieve one of the solution which is currently already present in the market.

And for like, I'll give you a brief about it is the uh B boss which is uh uh formed on the, which uh uh is formed on BS B uh uh currently and uh Bitcoin it's exactly built for, for the purposes for every handling everything at once. So even if the uh for that matter, game logic is running on the chain, it has the transactional capacity to record and verify its operations as well as interactions and et ownership records of all players. So this uh what, what bit bit boys does, it, it has developed a huge whole suite of uh I gaming products that run on uh BS V and it can be used uh as an interaction of both online and real life uh uh integration between these two things. So, and the company also have a number of patents for its technology and the platform is available for third as well. I'm not sure how much time is remaining. Uh So, yeah. And uh uh yeah, so the, the uh the basically, the company also has number, as I mentioned that it has a, it has a number of uh patents and ultimately, this company is trying, what, what they're trying to do is that uh they are trying to build it at scale. So the transaction fees, what is, which is very high uh still high in comparison uh in on many crypto based solutions in this uh it is specially built for that transaction pieces. I mean, it's almost negligible.

So this sign this what the solution is uh very much uh scalable in terms that a lot of number of the volume for handling basically larger number of uh transactions uh which may not like bit of smaller value itself. So it makes sense for any number of players to be playing or using this. Uh uh I mean, employing this technology and ultimately uh for if we have to, I mean, understand that despite uh of the potential challenges and controversies in world Blockchain is definitely one of the rising technologies uh that cannot be ignored but uh potentially in the real money gaming industries where, where trust and uh transparency is uh what most businesses lack and regulations still.

Uh The these three are the main things uh which are, which are there. But the very techno nature of technologies allows definitely uh players to improve the fairness and transparency of online gaming. However, uh definitely there are regulatory issues involved including Blockchain which could be improved, which could be a bigger uh roadblock uh in the adoption of the technology. And uh but there are definitely certain places which are trying to adopt uh the laws that allow casinos and real money gaming operators to accept cryptocurrencies though the adoption is still uh much on the lower side. And uh but if these regulatory changes can be overcome, it is highly likely that the Blockchain would be more regularly in the mainstream thing. What would happen uh across uh the industry and from players, it could add value from players to regulators, to operators as well.

So, yeah, thank. Thank you.