Is Betting Getting Close to Its DeFi Summer Moment, and What Will It Look Like?

The world of token swaps and trading has experienced a massive shift with the emergence of decentralized platforms like Uniswap, challenging the dominance of centralized exchanges (CEXs) such as Binance and Coinbase. This transformation has brought more transparency, control, and lower fees to the trading space. 

Now, the question arises: is betting about to experience a similar revolution? With the rise of decentralized betting infrastructure like Azuro, the online gambling industry could be on the brink of a major disruption, changing the game for traditional centralized platforms like Stake.com and Rollbit.com.

The Growing Crypto Betting Market

Data from the popular online surveillance tool SimilarWeb shows that the biggest crypto-only operator, Stake.com, has traffic similar to that of the US’s largest betting operator, DraftKings, and nearly 10% of the global leader, Bet365.com. 

With the online betting industry valued at approximately $70 billion in annual revenues, this suggests a massive market of ~$10 billion or more (particularly when considering the higher risk tolerance of crypto users) in revenues for crypto betting companies as of right now. Currently, decentralized apps account for a negligible part of this volume, but the usage of Azuro since its beta launch in June 2022 on Gnosis Chain suggests that something may be starting to happen.

Azuro’s Impressive Growth

Azuro has quickly become the number one protocol on the Gnosis Chain, showing promising growth in a short period:

• 5,976 unique users
• $4,696,026 in the total volume of bets
• 156,721 total bets
• 11,022 total betting events and games

These figures indicate a grassroots interest in decentralized betting solutions and demonstrate the potential for a significant shift in the industry as more users discover and adopt truly decentralized on-chain solutions.

Token Swaps and Trading: A Decentralized Revolution

The token trading landscape has evolved significantly with the introduction of decentralized platforms like Uniswap. By offering permissionless, transparent, and lower-cost token swapping, Uniswap has fueled a new era in token trading. The platform’s rapid growth and adoption demonstrate the increasing preference for decentralized solutions among users.

Centralized Betting Platforms: The Status Quo

Stake.com and Rollbit.com represent the current state of crypto online gambling, functioning as centralized platforms that control users’ funds, game outcomes, and rewards. Despite their popularity, these platforms have inherent issues, such as a lack of transparency and limited user empowerment.

Azuro: The Vanguard of Decentralized Betting

In a similar vein to Uniswap, Azuro seeks to revolutionize the online gambling industry by offering a decentralized alternative to centralized betting platforms. With its innovative infrastructure and Liquidity Tree pool design, Azuro provides a transparent, fair, and user-friendly betting experience that addresses many of the concerns associated with centralized platforms.

Azuro is building infrastructure supporting an on-chain feed of sports betting markets and other games of chance with deep liquidity that any external application/product can access permissionlessly. It brings a few new things to the on-chain betting paradigm:

• Any LP can get 1-click exposure into thousands of betting markets, getting real yield on stables.
• Bettors have access to the broadest range of liquid on-chain betting sports markets to date.
• Anyone can build a betting app in a few days without their own liquidity or risk-management know-how.

Similarly to Unsiwap, Azuro concentrates liquidity and allows for external parties to tap into it, but what is different in Azuro’s case is the frontend is fully decentralized. Azuro itself has no user-facing environment or platform as Uniswap does. The betting UIs are built by external dApps like the first one to have gone live on the protocol: bookmaker.XYZ.

Azuro has attracted significant interest and a $7.5M total seed investment from prominent backers, including Arrington Capital, Delphi Digital, Ethereal Ventures, Hypersphere, and others. This support from the investment community not only validates the potential of decentralized betting solutions but also provides the necessary resources for Azuro to continue its rapid growth and development.

The Potential for a Betting Revolution

Here are some reasons why the online gambling industry could be on the verge of a revolution, following in the footsteps of token swaps and trading:

1. Trustless and Transparent Betting: Decentralized betting eliminates the need for users to trust a central authority. All bets and transactions are transparent and verifiable on the blockchain.
2. Permissionless Innovation: An open protocol allows developers to build innovative betting applications without needing liquidity or risk management expertise, fostering a diverse and dynamic ecosystem.
3. Community Ownership: Decentralized betting platforms encourage users to contribute to the platform’s growth and development, resulting in a more decentralized and sustainable ecosystem.

Conclusion

The rise of a decentralized betting infrastructure layer like Azuro and the impressive growth in its usage raises the question of whether the online gambling industry is about to experience a revolution akin to the one seen in token swaps and trading. By offering increased transparency and user empowerment, decentralized options like Azuro could disrupt the status quo and reshape the future of online gambling.