In what can only be described as a milestone in the online sports betting industry and ICO campaigns, an eSports betting platform called Unikrn raises around $31 million dollars through its initial coin offering (ICO). The cryptocurrency sportsbetting platform, which is still not available to players worldwide, has collected the monumental sum through two phases of the campaign, just in time for its scheduled launch in 2018.
A New Name in Town
Unikrn is a Seattle-based company, launched by Rahul Sood, the founder and former CEO of Voodoo PC – a Canadian boutique computer company that was sold to Hewlett Packard. After spending years at Microsoft Ventures he reportedly saw the potential in eSports betting and decided to launch Unikrn with the help of an ICO token sale.
During the initial phase of the ICO, in September, Unikrn was able to raise around $15 million through the help of investors, some of which included high-profile people from the cryptocurrency sector like Anthony Diiorio – the co-founder of Ethereum. With stage 2 now complete and the crowdsale officially closed, Unikrn proudly announced on the website to have raised $31.4 million through the collection of over 110K Ethereum coins and an abundance of skins from popular eSports competitive games.
The end of the crowdsale marked the beginning of the Unikoin Gold token, the estimated delivery time of which is expected to be at the beginning of November. The token will be used as a primary betting currency on the eSports platform, allowing users to wager on different bets but also withdraw the cryptocurrency.
Unikoin Gold is a direct offshoot of a previous currency the company has created called Unikoin, which was launched in 2015 with backing by a wide range of users, including celebrities like Ashton Kutcher. But unlike the original coin, the company is planning to make the new cryptocurrency available through exchanges as well.
Only recently, Unikrn was awarded a license from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) – one of the biggest global gambling licensing agencies. At the start of October, the MGA revealed that it will be doing “sandbox tests” to evaluate the implementation of Bitcoin before making it possible for their licensees to legally accept BTC and other cryptocurrencies. With an MGA license, it’s possible that Unikrn might be planning to open its doors for a wide range of crypto-coin users.
Online Betting ICOs Grow in Numbers
ICO Campaigns are becoming an increasingly popular way of raising funds for online betting startups through the issuing of crypto-tokens. Only two months ago, another well-known betting name and ICO pioneer BetKing used a similar campaign to raise around $5.5 million in Ethereum and Bitcoin cryptocurrencies for the re-launch of its sportsbetting platform next year. Considering the success of both campaigns, it’s likely that more similar startups will be launching campaigns of their own in the future.
However, not all successful Bitcoin betting platforms are launched with Initial Coin Offerings. Some of the most popular Bitcoin sportsbooks online like Sporstbet.io and Cloudbet were launched without a token-based crowd-funding campaign, offering users a straightforward approach to betting with cryptocurrencies without calls for investing in the platform.