Profitable Poker Community, a web based community that helps quite a few on-line poker web sites the world over, has reported a surge in demand for Bitcoin payouts. 

In an Nov. 19 report from Bloomberg, the CEO behind Profitable Poker Community, or WPN, said that as much as 95% of poker gamers are presently requesting to be paid in Bitcoin (BTC).

Although the poker community has supported a number of cryptocurrencies since 2014, WPN CEO Phil Nagy acknowledged that the corporate wanted to make extra BTC purchases than ever due to demand brought on by the current worth motion previous $17,000 and $18,000 in a matter of days.

“We’re consistently having to exit and purchase Bitcoin — heaps,” mentioned Nagy. He estimated that even earlier than this current worth surge, the WPN was paying out greater than $100 million in BTC each month, roughly 60% of all transactions on the community. Extrapolated to the 95% of payouts Nagy reviews is presently occurring, and assuming the identical quantity, that will equate to roughly $158 million in Bitcoin every month.

In response to Nagy, the vast majority of prospects enjoying poker on the community reside in the USA, which can assist clarify their choice for crypto as a medium of change on condition that on-line playing is authorized in solely 11 out of fifty states. The CEO, who is predicated in Costa Rica, admitted to not checking whether or not gamers file their winnings for tax functions.

“It’s a piece round to flout the legislation, not likely the adoption Bitcoin needs to be after,” said Reddit consumer HighFivePuddy. “Not precisely nice PR.”

Bitcoin and on-line poker has an extended historical past collectively and there are various parallels between the favored card recreation and crypto buying and selling, proper all the way down to the terminology of ‘know when to HODL.’ Former and present skilled poker gamers have been closely concerned with crypto, together with Blockfolio co-founder Ed Moncada and Doug Polk, who additionally runs a crypto YouTube channel.

One of many largest crossover moments in crypto and playing got here final 12 months, when WPN set a Guinness World Document for the most important crypto jackpot for on-line poker winnings — $1,050,560, or roughly 106 BTC on the time.

Even with this degree of adoption inside the on-line playing world, Nagy mentioned that the WPN normally transformed Bitcoin it acquired from gamers straight into fiat to keep away from coping with the volatility. Nevertheless, that will not be the case for for much longer if demand for Bitcoin payouts continues to rise. 

On the time of publication, Bitcoin is priced at $17,831, having risen greater than 9% within the final 7 days.