Bitcoin Dominates Withdrawals on Winning Poker Network

The Winning Poker Network (WPN), which includes Americas CardRoom, has seen a massive surge in crypto demand, with 95% of withdrawal demands being for Bitcoin. Phil Nagy, the boss behind the Costa Rican-based network, revealed this significant shift in payment preferences. The network has been using cryptocurrency as a deposit and withdrawal method for several years, and even hit the Guinness Book of Records last year when Brazilian online poker player Rafael TheBigKid Moraes’ $1,050,000 ACR Venom win was paid out in Bitcoin.

The recent surge in the price of Bitcoin, approaching its all-time highest price of $19,763 from December 2017, has seen it reach nearly $18,000, the highest in almost three years. Nagy recently told Bloomberg, “We are constantly having to go out and buy Bitcoin – lots,” admitting that WPN were paying out more than $100million of the cryptocurrency each month. That number may well rise to more than $150million if the current upwards trend continues.

This shift towards Bitcoin withdrawals highlights the growing acceptance and demand for cryptocurrency in the online poker community. As the price of Bitcoin continues to rise, it is likely that more networks will follow suit and offer Bitcoin as a primary withdrawal option.