DraftKings, a publicly listed fantasy sports and sports betting firm, plans to start accepting cryptocurrency for entry fees and bets.
The firm invested heavily in cryptocurrency and NFTs last year.
DraftKings introduced an NFT marketplace in July. It is the only home for NFTs from Tom Brady’s platform Autograph. And it also offered a CryptoPunk NFT as a prize in a fantasy contest.
In June, the company’s three co-founders donned CryptoPunk T-shirts to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq.
Accepting cryptocurrency for entry fees and bets
In a podcast interview recently, DraftKings Chief Executive Officer Jason Robins revealed the possibility of the firm accepting cryptocurrency for entry fees and bets for fantasy sports because the “people want it.”
“Certainly, within the marketplace, we should be able to do that. So we’re working towards it.”
However, Robins believes that taking crypto payments would face regulatory challenges, particularly because DraftKings and other sports betting providers deal with a state-by-state legal environment.
“Different products in different states might be more likely to be doable earlier, and some may be out of our control,” Robins said.
In 2018, the Supreme Court canceled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). It is the federal prohibition on sports betting that legalizes sports betting. Which 30 states already do.
“Cryptography is a young field”
Robins is also wary since cryptography is such a young field that it might be perplexing to the uninformed.
“There’s protections that people don’t necessarily have in the crypto space that we think are important,” he said.
By the same reasoning, Robins believes that the whole crypto business might use greater centralization to attract newcomers, despite the crypto purists’ rallying cry for decentralization.
Robins also discussed how and when he first became interested in crypto and NFTs, why so many people oppose NFTs, and what he foresees for the sector’s future.