Dec 2, 2020
What is #DeGa? Decentralized Gambling is here to stay and SeeMarket is paving the way.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended as investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
Back in the day we had to drive to casinos and plan trips to gamble. Cities that allowed gambling such as Las Vegas flourished by offering exhilarating entertainment to risk-seekers all around the world. Then the internet happened and now we can can gamble through apps such as Bovada, DraftKings or Barstool Sportsbook. Gamblers now have the luxury of watching Monday Night Football and gambling without ever leaving their couch. Gambling has taken over the world as one of the most popular forms of entertainment. The issue is that these platforms are not open to everyone in the world and also require the users to go through various hurdles in order to interact with the platform.
Blockchain technology has created next generation betting platforms and prediction networks. No KYC or sign-ups are needed to interact with these next generation platforms such as Augur or SeeMarket. Augur was built on the Ethereum network in 2014 and is a pioneer in decentralized gambling. The only issue is that high gas fees from the Ethereum network have limited the scalability of Augur. Which brings us to the first prediction market built on the Harmony Network, SeeMarket. Harmony protocol is a proof-of-stake layer 1 blockchain protocol that offers low fees and fast transactions. People from all over the world can now try to predict future events with just a few clicks.
Interview with Kuyawa Kata (twitter @kuyawak)
We recently interviewed programmer of SeeMarket, Kuyawa. He is one of the first developers to test the limits of the Harmony blockchain via SeeMarket which is already live on mainnet.
1. What are your thoughts on Augur?
“Augur is an excellent idea implemented in the wrong blockchain. There is a trillion dollar business in betting and entertainment and Augur tries to fill that niche, but having to spend tens of dollars in fees and waiting hours for a transaction to confirm is insane and that kills all their valuable efforts. They capitalized on being first and that’s good, we’re going to capitalize in implementation and fast results, a safer bet in the long run.”
2. What is your programming background and how did you become a blockchain developer?
“I’ve been coding since the unix epoch and started following the crypto space as it evolved from genesis. It’s been the wildest of all rides and still lots of emotions to come.”
2. What areas of blockchain excite you the most?
“Payments is the most important, sending money without asking for permission is the core of cryptocurrencies and I love that. Finance in general with DeFi apps are showing us there is much more to do, and DeGens like me riding the new wave of Decentralized Gaming and Entertainment (DeGEn) apps blazing the path of what’s to come next year.”
3. Why did you choose to build SeeMarket on Harmony instead of Ethereum?
“Harmony is the fastest blockchain in the world right now with an average of 3 to 5 secs finality, reaching 1 sec finality in lab tests, while transaction fees are in the millicents so we can test our apps in mainnet without breaking the bank and get results almost instantly. Ethereum is a joke in terms of time and costs, because it’s the most used smart contracts chain right now but still a joke for apps that need close to instant results. I really hope they deliver on ETH 2.0 promises.”
4. Do you think Augur would have had a different outcome if the developers would have used Harmony?
“Absolutely, in terms of speed and cost, but they can’t complain by riding on Ethereum’s fame when there was nobody to compete with them. Things are different now, betting needs speed and low fees and Ethereum doesn’t deliver. We already delivered, and are working hard on the fame part.”
5. Do you think large publicly traded companies like Draftkings will adopt blockchain technology for their own platforms? Do you think they will hire blockchain developers in the future?
“Yes they should hire developers right now or won’t see the freight train that hit them just like Blockbuster. It may not be immediate that people will start betting on chain but mark my words, blockchain defies restrictions and betting is the most restricted of all industries. No registries, no KYC, no signups, no credit cards required, just one click betting and one second confirmation, I know you can see the future too.”
6. What can the harmony community do to support the development of SeeMarket?
“In a socialized world, likes are king, retweets, followings, virality is the best marketing. Support developers with technology and resources. And try our apps, break them, hack them, provide feedback so we can improve them and make the experience the best of all. The technology is already here, the fastest and most cost effective of all, it’s time to provide solutions and results now. SeeMarket is one of them. Try it!”
7. Any final thoughts or concerns?
“It all started with a dream, Satoshi’s dream of a trustless, decentralized monetary solution that has evolved into complete financial instruments and now is exploring gaming and entertainment industries. It is unbreakable and unstoppable, it won’t ask for your name or race and it doesn’t care about your credit score. If you own cryptocurrencies you don’t need to ask for permission, that’s liberty at its finest.”
Give the platform a try at seemarket.one
