GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 36 - October 2016

operators and online operators accepting bitcoin as a payment method, and more gaming available through bitcoin — it’s kind of a vicious cycle of more availability, more interest, more spending, more opportunity.” “The amount of investment into startups that are building appli- cations on top of bitcoin and blockchain is growing yearly, and this year more than ever, banks started to show a big interest in cryptospace,” Garber explained. “Even giants like Visa are experimenting with the technology. A lot of companies that largely dismissed bitcoin as just another fad two or three years ago have now seriously started to think about how to include this technology into their business. This is a big shift, and I would be lying if I said that I am not long-term bullish on bitcoin.” LEGAL CLARITY, OR LACK THEREOF Of course, with increased use and acceptance has come intensi- fied scrutiny of the legal status of bitcoin transactions. The most basic question — and one that’s far from settled — is whether bitcoin is, in fact, money. But whether it is or it isn’t, its use raises a host of other questions — like whether gambling with bitcoin is, in fact, gambling. “At first there was kind of a creative approach to the legal argu- ments and to the analysis of what bitcoin is in the gaming mar- kets, and the argument went along the lines of: Bitcoin isn’t real money, it’s just pretend; it doesn’t have any real, actual value; its value is only in the mind of the users,” Walters explained. “And therefore gambling with bitcoin isn’t gambling, because one of the elements of gambling is that you are wagering a thing of value. And while that argument is frequently made, it is almost universally rejected. The courts have — from the beginning, as the arguments percolated through the legal system — deter- mined bitcoin to be a thing of value, to be something that can be the subject of gambling, and that most gambling laws do cover wagering in bitcoin.” While most governments have so far been reluctant to view bitcoin as a currency, regulatory bodies are nonetheless de- veloping infrastructure to better integrate bitcoin with their financial markets. Several U.S. states have issued money trans- mitter licenses to bitcoin trading companies such as Coinbase. In May 2016, the Isle of Man legalized and regulated bitcoin and other virtual currencies for online gaming, though it does ‘Bullish’ on bitcoin $200 $400 $600 $300 $500 $700 $800 Bitcoin price index, Aug. 2014 to Aug. 2016. Jan 2015 Jul 2015 Jan 2016 Jul 2016 21 W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G