SOFTSWISS report: Crypto bets more than double in Q1; upward trend forecast

SOFTSWISS released Thursday a new report on crypto turnover within the iGaming industry, with information showing the comparative results for the first quarter of 2021 and 2022, based on the results of the SOFTSWISS Game Aggregator and the SOFTSWISS Casino Platform. The SOFTSWISS team gathered the most significant facts that reflect the significant growth of the crypto gambling market at the moment, and offered forecasts for future changes within the segment. 

The company’s report shows that along with the global trend, which shows the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, was the continuous development of crypto gambling. According to the statistics, the sum of bets in digital coins in Q1 2022 more than doubled compared to the same period last year, rising by 116,7%.

Andrey Starovoitov, COO at SOFTSWISS, stated: “Stable growth of cryptocurrencies in the iGaming market allows us to say that crypto gambling has become an independent, full-fledged and extremely promising line of business. Those brands that have adapted to these conditions and allowed their players to use all the benefits of cryptocurrencies have an advantage such as wider opportunities for operation and, accordingly, a wider audience”. 

The company has also observed that fiat currencies still hold the leading position, having 64% of the total volume. However, SOFTSWISS assured that the share of cryptocurrencies is steadily growing every quarter, and compared Q1, 2022 to the same period a year before, to find the share of crypto has increased by almost 10 percentage points from 26.3% to 35.9%. Compared to 2020, the share has grown by 29%: if such dynamics continue, the share of fiat and cryptocurrencies may become equal over the course of the next year, the iGaming expert predicts.

Within the most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has been decreasing its share despite having been the preferred one since it was introduced by SOFTSWISS. During Q1 2022, it declined by 10 percentage points to 72.80%, which was attributed to the growing interest in Ethereum and Litecoin. Their share has increased by 3.45% and 2.95%, respectively, to a total respective share of 13.45% and 6.45%. 

“Bitcoin will still be the leading cryptocurrency for deposits in the near future. However, the strong growth of other altcoins demonstrates the interest in more advanced coins in terms of technology such as Ethereum. More players will prefer to diversify their funds with other cryptocurrencies. This is a positive trend related to the development of the market”, Starovoitov explained. 

Considering this data, SOFTSWISS has concluded that cryptocurrencies will continue to grow with subsequent changes in terms of coin share within the iGaming market. Cryptocurrencies diversification in gambling activities will be one of the significant trends to influence the industry, the company says.

“At the same time, the trend in the regulation of the traditional casino will also characterize the development of crypto gambling in the future”, the company assured.

📣 The newest batch of crypto stats from SOFTSWISS: Q1 2022 State of Crypto.

The report contains a list of the top cryptocurrencies, data on crypto and total bets growth and other key business metrics for Q1 2021 and Q1 2022.

Take a look at the figures: https://t.co/Va0GIg9mQR pic.twitter.com/FAHJl9FzsX

— SOFTSWISS (@softswiss) May 5, 2022

“The stronger regulation of traditional casinos will definitely attract new operators to the crypto gambling niche. In the next couple of years, we will see active growth in this market segment as most current leaders will join the niche," Starovoitov added.

"As for the product itself, we can highlight what you need to launch a successful crypto project based on our experience: connected crypto processing such as Coinspaid and crypto exchange services (Moonpay, Mercuryo.io, Utorg), as well as the in-game currency conversion for a wider selection of game content. However, new needs are already emerging. For instance, using NFTs to gamify the player experience and build a community of like-minded people around the online casinos,” Starovoitov concluded.