BlitzPredict is a sports betting platform which aggregates odds from several markets to provide clients with the best odds when making a bet. Like most other markets, betting platforms suffer from several issues due to centralized control. Delays in payments, betting disputes, and/or risk of platform defaults. BlitzPredict intends to shake up the industry by using blockchain technology.

In this guide, we’ll take a brief look at how the project works, the token trading history and where to buy and store the coin, amongst other things. Skip to a section below if you prefer.

BlitzPredict hopes to maximize the efficiency of sport betting markets. Many betting platforms can take up to a week to make payouts resulting in tied-up capital which could be used elsewhere. The project is attempting to stand out from their competitors by aggregating the latest betting odds. In other words, why do all the hard work of finding the most profitable bet across multiple platforms when it can be done in one place?

They also hope to solve the problem inherent in privatized sports analytics. Syndicates and bookies in the current model usually withhold their betting info making it difficult to compete. Using blockchain, sports experts and community contributors can get paid in crypto to share sports models and knowledge with the wider community.

The platform integrates with the Bancor protocol in an effort to improve liquidity. In theory, this means that users don’t need to first go to an exchange to buy or sell their native token (XBP). Instead, users can instantly exchange their tokens on the fly.

Additionally, with the help of smart contracts, bettors can now set up their own scenarios automating bets. The team has implemented a feature called BlitzPay which is a liquidity reserve ensuring that bets are paid out as soon as events are completed. According to their whitepaper, these reserves will be verifiable by third parties and publicly audited, though it’s not clear how this will be implemented. BlitzPredict will need to ensure that payouts proceed smoothly as promised to maintain the long-term viability of the project.

The ICO raised $4.4 million of the $7.3 million goal by 12th of March 2018. Only 60% of the hard cap was reached and although not ideal this is still a good chunk of change considering the current market conditions. XBP will be used as the currency of the ecosystem and is an Ethereum ERC-20 token. Token allocation is as follows:

BlitzPredict Token Supply & Allocation

1 Billion (1,000,000,000) tokens were created at the Genesis block and the current circulating supply is around 350 million coins.

Little is mentioned about the history and team behind the project on their website and in the whitepaper. Fortunately, team specs on the website provide more profile details via LinkedIn and Twitter. This should at least add some credibility to the project. In an overly saturated ICO market its pretty important to verify the team expertise as blockchain developers are currently in short supply.

The project is founded by Brett Richey who appears to have significant professional poker experience. Not surprisingly, the project is also based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He is also the creator of BlitzPick, an app which allows fantasy sports players to create their own lineups for baseball. David Carley is the chief technology officer and lead blockchain developer on the project having extensive custom application development experience.

The platform appears to be live and accepting XBP for bet placements. This includes the liquidity pool and instant token exchange via Bancor mentioned earlier. One area of concern is the legal jurisdiction surrounding automated betting behavior. True Blockchains are designed to prevent censorship resistance which begs the question whether authorities will have the power to shut down any operations due to non-compliance. 

BlitzPredict Roadmap

Moving on to the first quarter of 2019, BlitzPredict will be looking to machine learning and building out community analytics projects. This is a core part of their value proposition. Potential investors will want to pay attention in the first half of 2019 to see if they can attract the community needed to make the project a success.

The XBP token has performed quite poorly since listing around April of this year (2018). It hit a high of around $0.10 in May and currently trades around $0.0006. Many projects are bleeding funds in Bitcoin and/or Dollar terms since listing.

Due to the crypto winter of 2018, it remains to be seen whether BlitzPredict, like many others, can continue operations in such market conditions. As can be seen below volumes have dropped off quite considerably since August.

Volumes have dropped off since August

Unfortunately, XBP still suffers from low liquidity and can only be found on several exchanges. IDEX, Bancor Network, and Cryptopia all provide options for buying and selling tokens if you can find a counterparty. As with all Ethereum tokens, you will be able to store XBP in an Ethereum wallet using MyEtherWallet. This is probably the best way to manage your ERC-20 tokens at this stage.

BlitzPredict is a high-risk project competing in a rather crowded space. Both Gnosis and Augur were first to market and presumably have a huge advantage in terms of experience gained. Despite that, BlitzPredict is geared specifically towards sports and also brings some new ideas to market. They will, however, have to work hard to ensure they take the lead in their niche.

Encouraging experts and the community to collaborate and bring their analytics into the betting arena is a rather large gamble (excuse the pun) in itself. It’s unclear whether the incentives are really there to entice new adopters. A large number of ICO projects market their own tokens as holders of value but the cryptocurrency market is still immature and many of these coins will fail. Adopters still prefer to hold something like Bitcoin and Ethereum which they perceive to hold more value. Will BlitzPredict’s proposition pay off? Only time will tell.

Follow along with the project and team on the following channels:

The post What is BlitzPredict (XBP)? | A Beginners Guide appeared first on CoinCentral.

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