Bitcoin continues to grab the media headlines. Its usage and adoption by the connected generation also sometimes referred to as digital natives or millennials continue to preoccupy businesses both locally and globally.
An example of this is the recent announcement last month [September] that Barclays, one of the UK's largest retail and online banks, is going to allow Bitcoin acceptance before the end of this year. If the implementation goes to plan it shall mean, Barclays is set to become the first major First World bank in the UK, US, and Europe to accept Bitcoin. Perhaps on the back of this, the recent announcement by the UK Gambling Commission, the national regulatory body may have to review its recent stance on Bitcoin as an unregulated currency in the UK.
Barclays is not the only financial institution focusing on Bitcoin in the UK, its Blockchain technology and usage as a truly digital currency for the connected generation. Swiss bank UBS, recently opened a London-based FinTech research lab in Canary Wharf to look at the mainstream usage of Blockchain and crypto-currencies.
Indeed several first world nations, including the UK, US, and most of Western and Northern Europe, have now generally arrived at the consensus of opinion that Bitcoin is a legal currency. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Barclays, BBVA, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, State Street, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS are collaboratively working on plans to design a "distributed ledger" technology based on the "blockchain" that facilitates Bitcoin transactions, further demonstrates the acceptance of Bitcoin within the traditional fiat based financial world.
So why is Bitcoin the natural choice for the Digitally Connected Generation? Simply put the connected generation wish instant gratification via the multitude of apps and on-demand services that inhabit their smartphone. For the connected generation, everything is on-demand and almost immediate. Don’t feel like hailing a taxi in the rain in London’s West End? No problem. Use the Uber app and its there in minutes.
If you need more convincing Cisco has predicted a 66% increase in the market every year for the next four to five years with expectations that there will be two billion
smartphone users in 2015. Indeed, the mighty Google has forecast the app market to be worth over £30bn to the UK economy by 2025. That’s a huge amount of on-demand customers seeking instant services.
If iGaming operators are to capture more market share of this mobile connectedly seeking on-demand consumer, they need to be thinking Bitcoin as the mobile digital currency of choice, then the opportunities abound.
Bitcoin provides that adjunct for a truly on-demand gaming experience and gratification. Instant transfers from €0.01 or €1,000,000 instantaneously, with zero or low fees. Discreet methods mean gaming players don’t have to worry about bank holidays or winnings won at the weekend taking several days to appear in the players’ fiat bank account. Furthermore, Bitcoin allows a payment from anyone, anywhere within the online gaming ecosystem and is truly a borderless fulfilment.
Therefore Bitcoin is the ‘Digital Chip’ payment protocol to service this growing consumer market and if an iGaming operator’s platform supports Bitcoin, it could mean the ability to convince and convert the connected generation that is interested in on-demand gambling entertainment services.
