Community member DashRacer AKA Scott Farnsworth successfully passed a proposal to get FanDuel to drop Bitcoin in favor of Dash in a huge win for the smaller digital currency. Earlier this year, FanDuel hosted a contest called the “Bitcoin Bowl” during the NFL Playoffs, in which the winner was awarded 1 BTC. Following this Bitcoin Bowl, DashRacer successfully negotiated with FanDuel and secured budget funding for a Dash-denominated contest centering around the NBA Finals. The contest is called the “Crypto Cup” and began February 22 with both a “free” and “paid” tier. The first place winner in the “free” category will win 2 DASH, while the winner of the paid category will win 15 DASH.
Publicity
FanDuel has 75 million customers per month, which is a huge level of exposure for Dash. On the contest’s webpage, FanDuel explains what Dash is and provides links to Dash mobile wallets on both the App Store and Google Play Store. Millions of people who might know little about crypto, and even less about Dash, are getting their first exposure to the digital currency.
The contest also received some mainstream media attention, with Yahoo Finance reporting on the Crypto Cup and Dash’s sponsorship of it. Scott was not available to comment at press time, other than to say that everything “went better than expected.”
Differentiation
FanDuel is one of the top two fantasy sports betting sites; their main competitor is DraftKings. Fantasy sports betting brings in an estimated $7 bln per year, and together, DraftKings and FanDuel own 90% of the market. This fact did not escape the notice of US regulators, who filed suit against the companies to prevent a merger that would have dominated the market.
Competition between the two companies is incredibly fierce, with DraftKings being the larger of the two. FanDuel is trying to capitalize on the cryptocurrency frenzy to gain market share and differentiate itself from the competition. Young cryptocurrency enthusiasts, given the choice, might well choose the platform that satisfies both their interest in crypto and in fantasy sports betting.
