Interviews
Interview with Zerocoin CEO Adrian Casey – How Zeroedge.bet Will Impact the Gambling Industry?
Bitcoinist | Apr 04, 2018 | 12:30
Zeroedge is the world’s first online casino that offers two unique advantages to the general online gambling public. Firstly, Zeroedgeruns exclusively on cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin for example) although, in this case, that cryptocurrency is Zeroedge Casinos own unique cryptocurrency called ZeroCoin.
The second advantage, and by far the most significant, is the fact that Zeroedge, much like its name suggests, will be offering a true 0% house edge to its players. This essentially means that, unlike conventional online casinos, where they can enjoy a house edge (the advantage the house has over the player) of as much as 10% in certain casino games, and 1% or higher in others.
The old saying that the house always wins really does apply to conventional online casinos, as they have stacked the odds in their favour, meaning that you will never ever really win your games (not for long anyway). Since Zeroedge does not make any profit from the losses incurred by players, but rather through the increased value of ZeroCoin which is the main economy driver on the Zero Edge Casino’s network.
Interview with Zerocoin CEO Adrian Casey
Bitcoinist: When was your business founded?
The Idea came up in the summer of 2017
Bitcoinist: How many founders, employees, and part-time workers?
I and my partner were the initial founders, but he went on to work on another venture. So I was pretty much left with just an idea. We currently have a team of 10-15 employees including people working on a full-time & part-time basis.
Bitcoinist: Thanks for interviewing! First question – When did you first get into Bitcoin and why?
After MtGox in 2013, was when I got into Bitcoin and started my research on it, though. This was also the time when most investors/people started to pay more attention to cryptocurrencies. I guess you could say I was caught by the wave. I wasn’t that much interested in the Bitcoin itself, my main interest was understanding how and why it works. So naturally, I first opened up Mr.Nakamoto’s whitepaper to start from the roots and work my way up. I was both overwhelmed and captivated by the concept and ideas outlined in that document. It allowed me to reflect on how inefficient and fragile our financial system was, especially looking at events during and after economic crisis in 2008.
Bitcoinist: Where did the inspiration for your ICO come from?
The inspiration came from my own personal experience with online casinos. Playing at an online casino can’t be any more boring. The social isolation while playing those games is at a high-level and I dare to say, this is one of the main problems that leads to problem gambling. And to think that you must “pay” to have such an experience was something I couldn’t get my head around. I thought there is definitely something wrong here and it can’t last with all the technological and social progress we make as a society.
Therefore, our mission at ZeroEdge is to make online gambling fun and most importantly “free of charge”. We want to create a platform where people can interact with each other and socialize to eliminate some of the problems present in the traditional form of online gambling.
Bitcoinist: How will your business make money in the future?
We will be generating income from our games, since not all players will be able to perfect game strategy, but the main source of revenue will come from parties wanting to build and operate their own games. For example, social influencers who wish to create some form of competition and reward their audience. We expect that games will become a big part of customer acquisition and retention strategies to keep businesses competitive and innovative.
Bitcoinist: What is the idea behind your ICO?
The main idea behind ZeroEdge.bet is to make gambling “fair & free of charge”. By eliminating the house edge from our games, we are essentially giving players an equal chance of winning. We think gambling shouldn’t be a “pay-to-play” service as it is now, where the casinos have a locked-in profit mechanism in place without their players ever realizing this fact. With the help of smart contracts, we are creating a new approach to gambling where players can actually win, have more opportunities and are not pressured to play.
Bitcoinist: Can you walk us through the critical components of your business and how it will work?
The most important component will be the ease of purchasing Zerocoin which is required to play 0% house edge games at Zeroedge.bet. Zerocoin will be purchasable on-site and on secondary markets such as exchanges. The key for us will be to ensure sufficient supply of tokens in circulation, i.e. liquidity. The token supply will be controlled by releasing a small batch of tokens from our reserves to meet growing demand for the token and fixing token’s price.
Another component is making our games look good to the eye. Obviously, we want to make our games as engaging as possible so that players are not bored after a few spins/hands. For this task, we use big data to identify patterns of visual preferences and player’s game choice based on certain characteristics. We have a dedicated team of UX/UI designers who have previously built and designed enticing games.
Bitcoinist: What was the greatest challenge you have faced so far?
The greatest challenge so far was and still is convincing people that gambling doesn’t need to be negative. With ZeroEdge.Bet we want to use gambling as a means for people to socialize and build social circles which could possibly lead to an increased social inclusion and decreased problem gambling.
Bitcoinist: Where do you see your business in 5 years time?
We expect our business to evolve into a social platform rather than just a casino. Our games will only be a medium for people to connect. Main activities on the platform might include sharing interesting content related to personal lives and stories, educational and cultural material, etc. In 5 years, the technology, particularly AI & VR might advance considerably and we might be seeing new forms of social interaction over the web. This is definitely something we will be looking to explore ourselves and implement on our platform to enhance user experience and continue pioneering the industry.
Bitcoinist: What are the biggest factors that will bring success?
I would say the biggest factor will be acquiring a substantial user base. The gambling industry is a highly-competitive business which requires a unique approach to stand-out from the crowd. The crypto-gambling is still relatively small market compared to fiat gambling, therefore I would say that the biggest factor that will influence our success will be our capability to capture fiat gamblers who might not be familiar with cryptocurrencies at all.
Bitcoinist: What’s your advice to other ICOs or Bitcoin businesses who are just starting out?
My best advice for people looking start their business is to think BIG. You have to have a grand plan and not settle for a small thing. Do your research, follow knowledgeable people from the industry and learn. Think of something revolutionary, that can possibly bring a lot of value not only to the business, but to society as well.
Bitcoinist: Aside from your website where else are you present on Social Media and how can people get in contact with you?
Absolutely, we are present on Twitter where we announce major news regarding our project. Bitcointalk forum is another medium where we a very active with discussions and answering questions. However, I would definitely recommend joining our Telegram where our main community resides to talk anything related to the project, share ideas, ask questions and more.
What You Need to Know AboutZeroCoin ICO and Launch Dates
Pre-ICO is set to start on the 28th of February 2018, closing out on the 15th of March 2018. While there is no soft cap set during the Pre-ICO stage, the hard cap is set at 1500 ETH. https://tokensale.zeroedge.bet.
Images courtesy of ZeroEdge.Bet
