Wednesday brought with it the start of the three-day Blockchain World Conference (BWC) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The annual event is an opportunity for experts in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries to get together and discuss current happenings in the two areas. It’s also a place to have a little fun, and this year’s conference will host the first-ever cryptocurrency poker tournament.
On July 14, the day after the conference ends, the BWC has organized a casino-sanctioned poker tournament open to a maximum of 100 players. It kicks off at 11:00 local time and players can register exclusively through Blockparty, a ticketing platform that is powered completely by the blockchain. Blockparty will also manage all aspects of the action at the felt, including buy-ins, betting and cashing out. From start to finish, everything will happen with cryptocurrency.
Alex Falcone, chief operating officer of BWC, said that the poker tournament is only fitting, given that the conference is being held in the gambling mecca of Atlantic City. He said, “After three days of discussions about blockchain and cryptocurrency, this is a fun and unique way to bring our event to a close—highlighting a compelling real-world application of this technology, in true Atlantic City fashion. The Blockparty team are incredible leaders in blockchain-based live event ticketing and they are the perfect partners for us to work with for an event of this caliber.”
Only those who have attended the BWC can register for the tournament and must pay the $250 buy-in using cryptocurrency. The first-place winner will receive two VIP tickets to the BWC conference to be held in Hollywood, Florida, this December and a three-night stay at the Diplomat hotel. The top prize is valued at $10,000.
Blockparty has added a few other prizes to the pot. It is holding a competition that will reward 10 attendees with entry into the tournament, and tournament players who eliminate a poker pro will also receive prizes.
Blockparty CEO Shiv Madan stated, “As one of the first true real-world applications of blockchain and cryptocurrency, we’re excited to add another event category, like poker, to our ticketing repertoire. It’s a great testament to what we’ve built that the mainstream music scene and crypto enthusiasts alike are recognizing the ease and convenience of our platform and this is a great taste of what the future holds as mainstream adoption of blockchain only continues.”
