Azuro, a decentralized betting protocol, announced on Monday that it has raised $4 million in a funding round contributed by participants, including Hypersphere, Gnosis, Merit Circle, SevenX, and Quiet Capital.
Azuro, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) building a protocol for blockchain-based betting, aims to disrupt traditional online betting with a more transparent decentralized alternative.
Traditional betting firms go to great lengths to make betting unfair and opaque, Rossen Yordanov, a core contributor to Azuro project, said in a statement. “The problem is incentive misalignment. Profits are zero-sum, so many betting companies go to great lengths to create unfair and opaque environments for the players,” he stated.
The key mission of the Azuro project is to replace traditional centralized online betting exchanges such as Bet365, 1xBet, 22Bet, MarathonBet, BetWinner, 888sport, Betsson, sportsbooks, and others, which are often seen as predatory and profit-motivated.
In this way, Azuro is working to disrupt the $200 billion betting industry through blockchain smart contracts and web3 technologies to bring full transparency to the sector and increase liquidity in betting markets.
In the recent past, Azuro launched its mainnet on Gnosis Chain. The fund raised will be used to expand it to more blockchains, with Polygon its main target currently, as well as create a non-fungible token (NFT) bets marketplace and add further betting markets, the company said.
Hypersphere co-founder Jack Platts explained why they backed Azuro in the funding raise: “Betting markets are one of the few applications where crypto was always supposed to shine. So far though, none have been able to crack the nut of bootstrapping liquidity for popular betting disciplines. We believe Azuro’s team can finally make that promise true.”
Azuro leverages prediction markets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), DAO governance, and liquidity pools on its backend to minimize costs associated with the betting process for users.
The latest funding brings Azuro’s total fundraising to $7.5 million. In January, Investors, including AllianceDAO, Arrington Capital, Ethereal Ventures and Delphi Digital led fundraising of $3.5 million for the project.
Decentralized Sports Betting on Blockchain
Betting is a common practice across a broad range of a variety of fields, including the sports industry, casinos, and others. The latest development by Azuro shows the entry of decentralized sports betting platforms is beginning to revolutionize the way people place bets.
Decentralized sports betting is a new type of betting mechanism that is set to revamp how traditional centralized online betting sites operate. Run by profit-oriented individuals, conventional sportsbooks and betting apps are known for charging high fees and taking advantage of users.
Decentralized betting platforms are built on an open-source approach that incorporates blockchain technology. Furthermore, decentralized web 3.0 sports betting services normally don’t have actual business people who run the platform as there is no central authority in charge. In the platform, all users actively participate and decide whether or not to wager against the person who launched the market.
Lastly, decentralized sports betting platforms do not levy exorbitant fees and are regarded as safe because all data is stored on the blockchain, providing another layer of transparency.
The Nation Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, in collaboration with sports betting operator DraftKings Inc., announced the launch of a gamified nonfungible token, or NFT, collection to drop on DraftKings Marketplace during the 2022-2023 NFL season. Starting next year, fans will be able to play NFT-based games featuring their favorite NFL Players, according to the company.
OneTeam, the official media business partner of the NFLPA, helped facilitate the deal with DraftKings, giving them the necessary licensing rights to use the name, image and likeness for active NFL players.
In a statement shared on the Draftkings website, Beth Beiriger, SVP of product operations for DraftKings Marketplace said, “The future of fandom is unfolding in front of us, and few organizations beyond DraftKings are as equipped to capitalize on the increasing intersection between sports and NFTs that will be cornerstones of engagement and entertainment within Web3.”
The Draftkings Marketplace went live this past August with its inaugural Tom Brady NFT collection in partnership with the NFT platform co-founded by Brady himself called Autograph. Besides NFTs, Brady further displayed his backing of crypto by giving a fan 1 BTC for his 600th touchdown pass.
Related:Rams player Odell Beckham Jr. will accept NFL salary in Bitcoin
The announcement suggested that DraftKings’ upcoming NFTs will enable customers to buy and sell collectibles via the Polygon network, and use them within games against other players. The goal of the DraftKings’ NFT experience is to “create authentic connections for avid fans,” according to Sean C. Sansiveri, General Counsel and Head of Business Affairs at NFL Players Inc., the marketing and licensing arm of the NFLPA.
Related:Pro sports leagues are no longer resisting NFTs: Dapper Labs
Last month the NFL also entered a collaboration with Ticketmaster to tie NFT collectibles to select game tickets when purchased, emphasizing the pro sports league’s broad adoption of blockchain technology.
Cryptocurrency wallet Exodus has officially integrated with SportX, an online sports and crypto betting platform, giving users the ability to wager on esports games through smart contracts executed on the Polygon network.
The partnership, which was announced Tuesday, gives Exodus’ more than 1 million users access to SportX’s decentralized betting exchange, where they can place bets on a wide range of sports and esports games using cryptocurrency. The minimum bet amount is $5, denominated in USD Coin (USDC), which can be sent directly to the Exodus wallet or exchanged from any of the 138 cryptocurrencies it supports. All markets created, traded and settled on SportX are facilitated by the Polygon network.
Currently, SportX is authorized for use in Canada, South America, most European countries excluding France and the Netherlands and throughout most of Asia.
Esports, which refers to multiplayer video games played competitively in front of spectators, has grown to become a billion-dollar industry, with mainstream developers such as Halo entering the market.
What a statement from Halo. Their re-entry into esports has been nothing short of incredible. Balanced maps, ranked play and a multi-million dollar tournament circuit out of the gate two weeks after release. Bravo @Halo.
And congratulations @OpTic on the first
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) November 22, 2021
Although the relationship between cryptocurrency and esports is still nascent, industry observers have identified a “special connection” between the two domains. Both communities share similar demographics and employ technologies that transcend geographic locations. The financialization of gaming, also known as GameFi, is also expected to present new opportunities for the esports industry. (However, GameFi is not limited to the financialization of esports, but digital gaming more generally.)
Related:Coinbase partners with esports gaming organization competing in League of Legends
Crypto exchanges, meanwhile, continue to expand their footprint in the esports market, with the Sam Bankman-Fried-led FTX leading the way. In August, the derivatives exchange inked a seven-year deal with Dolphin Entertainment to create nonfungible tokens that target brands in several sectors, including esports. In June, FTX sealed a $210 million naming rights deal with esports giant TSM.
Seychelles-based Azuro is a decentralized global platform designed to revolutionize the betting experience with advanced gaming mechanisms and high-end technology.
Azuro enables early adopters to benefit from the trust and improved transparency, alongside a set of different features that the company provides.
The protocol is on a mission to address a number of common issues within the online betting industry, such as inaccurate odds and bet settlement, late or rejected payouts, restricted accounts, high payment costs and low conversions, limited liquidity, and many more.
In addition, Azura targets some significant issues primarily concerned with blockchain betting solutions, specifically prediction markets like ambiguous odds, insufficient liquidity, or liquidity providers facing a high level of risk.
What is Azuro?
Other aspects of the protocol are improving user experience (UX) for bettors, a cost decrease for betting services, and an overall expansion of the market. These features are expected to result in a transparent and fair online system in the betting arena.
Azuro’s Key Features
Azuro Token
The Azuro token is a utility token that empowers the Azuro ecosystem and serves the following purposes:
Governance: Azuro token holders have the ability to moderate the project’s development decisions. In addition, they can use the token to pay transaction fees and manage their fund. The token is also used to contribute to protection against fraud and fixed matches.
Farming with fair tokens: Azuro token is accessible for bet placing and liquidity adding. Furthermore, the affiliate program enables users to refer other players and generate additional incentives as Azuro tokens. The unity token is also applied to liquidity adding a token pair on DEX’s.
Utility: Azuro token holders will receive rewards when participating in staking to create customized liquidity pools. However, the project’s staking rewards have not yet been officially announced.
Token Distribution
Farming: 35.5%
Seed and Private Sale: 20.5%
DAO: 20%
Team: 16%
Partners and Industry Experts: 8%
Liquidity Pools and Odds Mechanics
Integrated with the algorithms that evaluate a progressive spread mechanism, this functionality makes investing funds in liquidity pools risk-free, guaranteeing funds to be protected from being lost due to the odds inaccuracies for low-liquidity events.
The mechanics ensure that fixed odds are always kept up to date based on the changes in the liquidity pool. For example, if oversize bets exceed 1/50th of the pool, the change of slippage will be accelerated.
It is possible to generate a return on investment in the liquidity pool that is guaranteed to be profitable once a critical mass of users has joined the pool in this way.
Cash Flow Routing and Front-End Launch
Cash flow routing is empowered by blockchain technology, with smart contracts playing a vital role in connecting and securing betting money, liquidity, and either payouts or earnings.
This facilitates immutability, transparency, and an objective system that fosters trust among all parties involved in the transaction.
Front-End launch allows front-end operators to integrate into Azuro’s services and provide these services to their customers. Simply put, customers are able to access a wide range of markets and events, approach significant volumes of liquidity and other benefits.
NFT Bet Trading and Gamification
To facilitate secondary sales and peer-to-peer trading, NFTs of each bet can join the Azuro marketplace. NFT bet trading and gamification come with leaderboards, badges/achievements, and special challenges.
Bettors have the opportunity to be on the list of top betting winners and obtain special items.
Suppose you make it to the top of the leaderboard. In that case, you will be awarded the “First Azurian” NFT, which entitles you to first dibs on future platform activities such as farming and token sales expected to be available in the coming quarters.
The Value Proposition
The protocol is still in its early development. The overall interface is designed with ease of use so that anyone can indulge in betting passion without restriction for any reason.
Azuro just announced its testnet release, along with a betting contest to attract more users and drive more adoption. Joining Azuro’s platform will give participants a multitude of essential services.
Users approach betting opportunities without the risk. In addition, platform registers via Telegram bot can get 100 tokens per day.
Once a user has placed 15 bets, they are added to the leaderboard.
They are automatically entered into the competition, with a prize pool consisting of $6,000 in USDT, $6,000 in AZUR tokens, and several NFTs.
The awards are given to the top-ranking bettors, who are determined by their betting success, the number of consecutive wins, turnover, and other factors, among other things.
Customers can benefit from the fair and implemented odds from more than 20 top bookmakers, averaged them, and an additional spread.
A bettor can win or lose based on objective and conflict-free odds established by smart contracts. Imported results from data sources are guaranteed to be accurate and conflict-free.
Members can bet with no concern of unfair play as the protocol implements smart contracts to keep track of payouts and bets and release them following the outcome.
Loads of Opportunities to Win and Earn
Additionally, a portion of earnings is distributed to front-end operators (companies that operate betting front-ends for bettors), liquidity providers (who supply liquidity for protocols and events), and the remaining 15% is stored for the DAO’s general use.
In terms of B2C, bettors have opportunities to wager on various events through interaction with the main page. They can also customize their experience by changing the settings, selecting the outcome of their events, checking the odds, and placing a wager.
Each bet will also become an NFT, which will allow users to trade in more cases and sell their NFTs on the Bet Marketplace and open up additional trading cases for them.
In addition, users who refer friends to the platform will be eligible to receive a portion of the prize pool if their referrals place a minimum of 15 bets on the decentralized betting platform.
Regarding B2B, companies that provide or operate front-end services partner with Azuro by establishing their own UX storefront. Liquidity providers and farmers stake their assets using Azuro’s token, confirming their desired investment return.
The Team
Online betting has faced numerous issues such as account limitations, rejected payouts, a common lack of trust and fairness.
Azuro’s founder Paruyr Shahbazyan acknowledges this significant gap and the opportunities in this industry.
Together with his partners, he established Azuro, a team of entrepreneurs with extensive expertise in the betting industry, consolidating to bring cryptocurrency solutions to online betting and improve the overall experience for all participants.
Notable Achievements And Road Map
Jumping into a challenging industry, Azuro quickly gains several notable accomplishments. First, the protocol successfully raised $200K to the fund from the founders’ contribution. It also completed the seed round with $300,000.
The CEO of Azuro, Paruyr Shahbazyan, is also the founder of Bookmaker Ratings – the biggest and fastest-growing sports & betting media group in Eastern Europe.
That means Azuro is backed by long standing support of Bookmaker Ratings. Azuro has also formed a strategic partnership with Federbet, a leading anti-match-fixing organization.
Besides, the project completed building the mechanism for the conversion of bet and NFT, and it is under the architecture development of the future Oracle’s solution, with a Chainlink node in operation.
Keep Up With Azuro
Like many areas of the online economy, the online gaming market is likely underdeveloped. Azuro is entering the space at the perfect time, and creating a platform that delivers real value to participants at all levels of the gaming community.
If you want to keep up with Azuro, and how the platform is developing, just click here to visit its website, or keep an eye on its Medium account here. You can also follow Azuro on Twitter, or dig into its code on Github!
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