Vaulting ambition
Stake.com has ambitions far beyond crypto, says Yolo founder
Tim Heath says rival firm has outgrown the crypto space.
In Loose change: EVO.io crypto-casino raises seed round.
China says crypto is money laundering.
State Street goes down the tokenization road.
The highway's jammed with broken heroes.
Big time
Ends of the spectrum: Tim Heath, founder of the investment house Yolo and the man behind various crypto-gambling ventures including Sportsbet.io and Bitcasino, says rival Stake.com does more GGR in fiat than it does in crypto and has ambitions to be “the next bet365.”
Speaking to The Token Word, Heath said that, in comparison, his companies were more content to keep servicing a high-end crypto customer.
“Where we think the sweet spot is, is we know our players,” he said. “We’ll satisfy the high-end customer.”
On the march: Stake.com this week announced it has been granted a sportsbook and iCasino license by the authorities in Peru and will soon launch the Stake.pe site, having previously bought its way into Colombia via the purchase of Betfair’s old license.
“It is going the licensing route,” said Heath of Stake.com’s ambitions. “It will try to get as many licenses as possible.”
“It has gone very big on brand strategy. But to run a multi-currency organization is difficult. In crypto, on the operator side, moving money is easy.”
“But when you work in fiat, moving money is difficult and expensive.”
Return of the native: Heath suggested part of the issue for a crypto-first gambling operator with global ambitions is that there is a “natural limit for the market for crypto-native users.”
“If you are Stake and you are trying public branding and typical acquisition channels, you are not going to acquire a pure crypto player unless they are in a tricky market in terms of regulation,” he said.
Gonna start a Revolut: Heath noted a bigger market is with crypto-enabled consumers. “That opened up when Revolut launched,” he said of the online bank. “If someone takes up crypto at that point, because their card issuer allows for it, then that can open up the consumer’s eyes and they won’t go back to using credit cards.”
But that is only true in unregulated markets, he added.
“In regulated markets, you really can’t simplify the payment systems any more than they already are, for the consumer at least.”
He said that while crypto has “become mainstream” with most people having a wallet now, “whether they will want to dive in and become crypto only, I don’t know.”
“But if you have other payment options, you won’t take the crypto route,” he argued.
Crypto concierge: He said that with his focus on the select client base, the aim was to provide more akin to a private banking experience than a mass-market product. “My goal is to move money more efficiently than anyone else in the world,” he added.
“We want to have 500 customers, all with a crypto wallet, but having them as banking customers. Really a private banking experience.”
He noted the company has recently opened a B&M casino in Tallinn. “That is all crypto based as well,” he said.
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Loose change
Do the evolution: Asian sportsbook operator SABA Sports is pumping $3m of seed investment into online crypto casino EVO.io. “It is without a doubt that crypto will play key roles in iGaming in the years to come,” said a SABA Sports spokesperson.
“It may just be a simple deposit and withdrawal transaction right now, but blockchain technology can be much more,” they said. “For example, transparency in casino games, detailed on-chain betting data, and so on.”
Not in Kansas anymore: A former CEO of shuttered Kansas Heartland Tri-State Bank has been sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for embezzling funds via crypto and causing the bank to fail.
Shan Hanes used his position to steal $47m in bank funds, transferring the money to a crypto wallet involved in a pig butchering scheme.
In May, he pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank officer.
The big money: Turkish regulators have said 76 companies have applied for licenses under the country’s new digital asset regime. Major names such as Coinbase, Gate.io and KuCoin, have applied for permission to serve the market, joining Binance, Bitfinex and OKX, which were already part of the application process.
Each company must still obtain formal approval from the Turkish Capital Markets Board, which is contingent upon the enactment of secondary legislation.
Time to get paid: Former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer David Hirsch has landed at law firm McGuireWoods. He will be a partner in the firm’s securities enforcement and regulatory counseling practice.
Hirsch quit the SEC in June after almost nine years at the markets watchdog, having held the position of top enforcer in the regulator’s crypto assets and cyber team.
Chinese laundry
Recognize: Chinese authorities have officially classed “virtual asset” transactions as a method of money laundering. The Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the country’s highest judicial bodies, made the announcement during a press conference.
China is widening efforts to clamp down on flows of dirty money and will tighten rules in order to specifically target the use of crypto in crime.
Cover and conceal: The new legal interpretation classifies virtual asset transactions, including those executed via crypto exchanges, as acts that “cover up and conceal the source and nature of the proceeds of crime.”
The country considers laundering amounts over $685k, or causing losses of more than $343k, offenses serious enough to result in jail time.
In 2017, China banned initial coin offerings and, four years later, outlawed crypto transactions.
State Street tokenization
Bull run: Asset manager State Street is partnering with Taurus, a Swiss digital asset infrastructure provider, to deliver tokenization services for institutional clients.
The investment bank is starting with tokenization due to lingering regulatory concerns in the US, where restrictions limit institutions from holding customer’s crypto assets.
“While we’re starting with tokenization, that’s not where we’re ending,” said Donna Milrod, State Street’s head of digital asset solutions, in an interview with CoinDesk.
Help me if you can: “As soon as the US regulations help us out, we will be providing digital custody services as well. We know how to be a custodian,” said Milrod. “We don’t do that on our balance sheet. We do that off-balance sheet. They’re not our assets.”
Nigeria tax
Where’s my slice: Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service is readying a bill that will tax the crypto industry, with expected approval by September, the country’s Punch newspaper has reported.
Zacch Adedeji, executive chairman of the tax collection agency, unveiled the plan at a meeting with the National Assembly’s Senate and House Committee on Finance.
“The plan first is to have the law that regulates it, and that is why you see that we are here with the legislature, which will be the base of charging,” he said.
You’re gonna pay for that: The African nation has endured a rocky relationship with the crypto sector, having recently accused exchange Binance of shifting $26bn out of the country to avoid paying tax.
The events led to the arrest and continued detainment of a senior Binance compliance official who visited the country to meet with government figures earlier this year.
Another crypto exchange, KuCoin, said last month it had begun to collect VAT on transaction fees for Nigerian customers.
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