Finance:MegaDice

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MegaDice (previously called SatoshiDice) is a gambling website which uses the digital currency bitcoin. In 2012, SatoshiDice was the leading bitcoin gambling site in terms of amount wagered.[1]

On 18 July 2013, Erik Voorhees announced that SatoshiDice had been sold for 126,315 BTC, or US$12.4 million at the time of the announcement.[2][3]

Background

SatoshiDice launched in April 2012. As of January 2013, it had taken in approximately $15 million in bets.[4] During 2012, SatoshiDice reported profits of over $500,000 in US dollars.[5][6] However, in May 2013, SatoshiDice moved to block all US-based IP addresses, citing potential legal issues.[7] In 2013 Satoshi Dice's servers were based in Dublin, Ireland.[1]

Name origin

The term satoshi, named after Satoshi Nakamoto, refers to the smallest unit of bitcoin, with value of 0.00000001 BTC. For certain transactions, the loser of a bet is paid "1 satoshi".[8]

Offering

In August 2012, Erik Voorhees, founder[9] of SatoshiDice, launched a "prospectus" for SatoshiDice, aiming to attract investors.[1] The offering was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and was conducted in bitcoin through the website MPEx, based in Romania. SatoshiDice was described as an "unregistered corporation" represented by Voorhees, with the investment agreement stating that it may "not be modified by third parties, irrespective if said parties should style themselves "court of law", "judge" or otherwise". As of January 2013, SatoshiDice shares were valued at $8.9 million.[1]

In June 2014, Erik Voorhees was charged by the SEC over offering unregistered securities including SatoshiDICE and FeedZeBirds. Voorhees conducted a share buyback in addition to paying over $50,000 in penalties.[10]

Satoshi Dice Tribute, Classic, legacy and Session Game

On October 31, 2013 the SatoshiDice Tribute game was launched, only to be shut down a month later after being plagued by slow performance, DDos attacks and other user-related issues.[11] As of 2015, both the classic blockchain based game and a session game where players keep a balance at the site are available. A possibility for players to use their balance as part of the house bankroll was added in 2015.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Matonis, Jon (22 January 2013). "Bitcoin Casinos Release 2012 Earnings". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/01/22/bitcoin-casinos-release-2012-earnings/. Retrieved 11 July 2013. 
  2. ↑ "First big Bitcoin acquisition: gambling site SatoshiDice bought for $11.5M | VentureBeat" (in en-US). https://venturebeat.com/2013/07/19/first-big-bitcoin-acquisition-satoshidice/. 
  3. ↑ Buterin, Vitalik. "SatoshiDice sold for $12.4 Million". Bitcoin Magazine. http://bitcoinmagazine.com/satoshidice-sold-for-12-4-million/. Retrieved 18 July 2013. 
  4. ↑ Winter, Caroline (3 January 2013). "Bitcoin: Making Online Gambling Legal in the U.S.?". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-03/bitcoin-making-online-gambling-legal-in-the-u-dot-s-dot. Retrieved 12 July 2013. 
  5. ↑ Farivar, Cyrus (22 January 2013). "Bitcoin-based casino rakes in more than $500,000 profit in six months". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/business/2013/01/bitcoin-based-casino-rakes-in-over-500000-profit-in-six-months/. Retrieved 12 July 2013. 
  6. ↑ Farival, Cyrus (6 February 2013). "Is Online Gambling Legal If Bitcoins, Not Dollars, Are At Stake?". NPR. https://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/02/06/171182974/is-online-gambling-legal-if-bitcoins-not-dollars-are-at-stake. Retrieved 12 July 2013. 
  7. ↑ Watt, Doug (16 May 2013). "Bitcoin gaming site SatoshiDice closes to US players". CoinDesk. http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-gaming-site-satoshidice-closes-to-us-players/. Retrieved 12 July 2013. 
  8. ↑ Meiklejohn, Sarah (October 2013). "A Fistful of Bitcoins: Characterizing Payments Among Men with No Names". Internet Measurement Conference 2013. Barcelona, Spain: ACM. doi:10.1145/2504730.2504747. http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~smeiklejohn/files/imc13.pdf. Retrieved 2013-08-28  Note: URL accessed on 2013-08-28 was prior to the conference and should be considered a pre-publication.
  9. ↑ Foley, Stephen; Wild, Jane (14 June 2013). "The bitcoin believers". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/910858fa-d3bf-11e2-95d4-00144feab7de.html#slide0. 
  10. ↑ "SEC Charges Bitcoin Entrepreneur With Offering Unregistered Securities". https://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370541972520. 
  11. ↑ "Satoshi Dice Tribute - Fast and Fierce Social Dice Gaming". 13 October 2013. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=322063.0. Retrieved 12 July 2013. 

External links




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