Stake.com, the largest online casino and sports betting platform for cryptocurrency, was hacked on Monday, resulting in a loss of approximately US$41 million. **These transactions included $16 million in Ethereum and stablecoins such as USDT, USDC, and DAI, followed by a further $25 million in MATIC and BNB token withdrawals. Since the whole incident did not involve any complex chain activities, but only a simple transfer behavior, many blockchain security experts said that the reason may be the leakage of the private key of the hot wallet of the platform, but its co-founder Edward Craven and However, DL News stated in an interview that the vulnerability was not caused by hackers controlling their private keys.

Craven told DL News on Tuesday: "The private keys were not compromised, but the attacker was able to conduct several unauthorized transactions from our hot wallet.** The attack was a "sophisticated intrusion" that targeted the company's users. A service for transactions on the authorized Ethereum, Polygon and BNB Chain blockchains."**

Following the incident, Stake temporarily suspended deposit and withdrawal functions, but restored both functions less than six hours later.

Let’s dig a little deeper into Stake.com, the largest crypto casino, to see that while $41 million is a staggering figure, it may be a drop in the bucket for Stake.com. According to a FINANCIAL TIMES report, Stake.com’s 2022 revenue will reach as high as $2.6 billion, and Bitcoin transactions related to its platform account for 6% of all Bitcoin transactions.

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Stake.com founding history and background

Looking back at the history of Stake.com, Stake.com was founded in 2017 by Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. The platform was launched to provide players with a global transparent, safe and fair online gambling experience. However, the founders’ experience in the gambling industry goes back much further; before launching Stake.com, Craven and Tehrani created Primedice, an online Bitcoin casino that launched in 2013 and was one of the first Bitcoin casinos. one and quickly became popular and successful among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. In just six years since its founding, Stake.com has grown from an unknown platform to the seventh largest gaming group (based on published revenue). Below we analyze several factors for Stake.com's success.

Key Factors for Stake.com’s Success

1. Anonymity and Cryptocurrency:

Stake.com's emphasis on anonymity and cryptocurrencies is a significant draw, especially for users who live in countries where online gambling is heavily regulated or illegal, unlike most large gambling syndicates that do not accept cryptocurrencies. Many of Stake.com's 600,000 regular users and 6 million registered accounts are located in the "gray" markets of Brazil, Japan, and other Southeast Asian countries, where rules for online gambling on foreign sites are not defined, and stake.com roams the Gray areas circumvent many regulatory restrictions through the anonymity of cryptocurrencies. 2. Game Variety:

Stake.com offers a variety of games, from sports betting (you can bet on almost every sports competition you can see) to casino games such as poker and slot machines, and even has a few original games such as Plinko to satisfy your needs. Wide user base, thus enhancing its attractiveness. 3. Active Marketing:

Stake.com's aggressive marketing strategy, utilizing social media, influencer marketing and online advertising, has been crucial to its rapid growth. The platform also benefits from high-profile partnerships, notably with rapper Drake and sports teams like Everton FC and Alfa Romeo F1 Team. These collaborations amplify its reach and credibility. 4. Correct market positioning:

Stake.com has always been at the forefront of crypto gambling innovation. As an online casino focused on cryptocurrencies, it has successfully attracted a group of users who love cryptocurrencies, gambling, and sports competitions, who are willing to take risks and can tolerate high risks. customers, while partnering with globally renowned entertainers and sports teams not only enhances Stake.com's brand awareness, but also increases its credibility within the entertainment and sports world.

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Author’s opinion

From this hacking incident, let us see that the profitability of these gaming platforms is so terrifying, not only Stake.com, another cryptocurrency casino platform, Rollbit, also announced their amazing profitability, with an average daily income of more than one hundred In the past two years when the encryption market entered a bear market, more gamblers chose to enter the casino to pursue excitement. **The well-known CT Sisyphus also stated that the data indicates that about 30% of the cryptocurrencies withdrawn from Robinhood will go directly to Stake, Rollbit, Roobet and other encrypted casinos in 2023. **

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The author believes that casinos are indeed one of the most suitable applications in the cryptocurrency circle. The particularity of resistance to censorship and anonymity makes cryptocurrency and gaming an easy match. Compared with many Defi applications that have the banner of financial revolution but have no real users, it is late. The concept of NFT metaverse has not been popularized by the public for a long time. Casino gaming is a market with real demand, many users and the ability to create real profits. **However, most of these current encrypted casino platforms actually only use cryptocurrency as a means of depositing and withdrawing money. Most functions and data are not on the chain. They are highly centralized and have not unleashed 100% of the potential of the encryption field. **

The author believes that gaming finance will hopefully be the next narrative in the blockchain world with a capacity of more than one billion US dollars. I look forward to seeing a product that has the characteristics of decentralization, anonymity, and unsupervised coexistence and a token dividend mechanism. Appearance allows users to be not only gamblers but also shareholders of bookmakers. **