Complete Bethereum ICO Review: Blockchain Powered Social Betting

Bethereum is a decentralized betting platform that operates on the Ethereum network and makes use of smart contracts.

They want to change the way that we think about online betting by making it more transparent and secure. Their goal is to provide a solution that will offer bettors more trust in the entire betting system.

Bethereum also wants to make betting a social activity again. The platform does not rely on centralized bookmakers operating as middlemen. Through the use of blockchain technology, Bethereum will facilitate global social betting.

Unlike traditional online betting where you place bets in fiat currency, under this model you will place a bet with their proprietary ERC-20 token, the Bether Token.

The Bethereum ICO is currently in the presale phase. So the important question is: should you invest?

In this comprehensive ICO review, we take an in-depth look at the technology behind Bethereum, the team and their future prospects.

Bethereum ICO Specifics

Bethereum tokens will be sold in a presale in February and a public sale in March 2018. So far, they have not yet announced the price at which they will be issuing the BTHR tokens. Those who partake in the presale will get bonus BTHR tokens.

• Token: Bethereum
• Symbol: BTHR
• Presale Date: February
• Crowdsale: March
• Total Supply: 1 billion
• Price: TBA
• Hard Cap: TBA

They are currently accepting applications from investors who want to participate in the presale.

Why the Need for Decentralised Betting?

Betting used to be an activity that people would enjoy on a social level. They would bet against each other, reflecting their views on the outcome of certain sporting event.

As the betting industry grew substantially and the range of matches expanded, betting companies began offering bookmaking services at centralized betting exchanges. These expanded greatly with the advent of mobile and online betting.

This has led to a situation where those who were making the bets had to place a lot of trust in a centralized bookmaker. Now, with the advent of online betting, this trust becomes even more important.

There is this inherent need for a completely transparent and open betting ecosystem where those that are betting are able to see all relevant information of the bet on a decentralized ledger. They can also see the amount of money as well as outstanding bets on the blockchain.

What is Bethereum

Bethereum is essentially a social betting platform. It allows users who want to place bets to do so without the need for a bookmaker who would set odds. All bets will be carried out in the platform’s native token, the Bether.

Although Bethereum will use the most advanced technology to govern the betting process, their goal is to make placing bets simple and intuitive even for non-bettors. In just a few clicks, anyone can create a bet on a variety of matches, removing the need for complicated odds spreads or other features of conventional betting.

Then, other players in the ecosystem will be able to join this bet and place their stakes. Once the bet has been confirmed, it will be registered on the Bethereum blockchain and the smart contract will pay out the winnings to the successful bettors.

Who is Behind Bethereum

The Bethereum team is no doubt quite diverse. They have people from a number of different industries and backgrounds. In the senior team, you have people who have worked in large corporations as senior directors as well as a number of Silicon valley entrepreneurs.

When looking at a company that wants to compete in the blockchain space, the team that is working on the project is sometimes more important than the ideas behind it it. Similarly, having a diverse range of experiences helps the company shape its strategy.

Above is a list of the most senior people on the Bethereum team. They have mentioned that they also have a solid pipeline for developmnet hires that they will embark on when they are complete with the crowdsale.

Pros of the Bethereum Product

The main benefit of Bethereum lies in its potential beyond sports betting. The platform will allow you to join a whole host of user-created bets, including eSports and fantasy sports. It will allow users to quickly and easily formulate the bets within smart contracts.

They also want to make sure that the platform can appeal to a broad range of bettors. The interface will be simple and intuitive enough for a first time bettor to quickly place a bet, yet will offer advanced options for someone who is a high roller and well-versed in betting platforms.

Lightning Quick Payouts

Thanks to the nature of blockchain and smart contract technologies, the moment that a bet has ended, the Bether tokens will be sent to the winner’s wallet. There is no need to place a request or wait until some betting agency approves your withdrawal.

Moreover, given that the network is secured through the use of advanced cryptography, there is no way that an external actor, such as a hacker, can get access to the information or funds. The blockchain is also immutable which means that the outcome cannot be changed after the event.

Unlimited bet sizes

This is another great benefit of the Bethereum platform. There will be no limit on the amount of bets that can be placed. This means that there can be an unlimited number of bettors for some of the more popular events. Hence, as more people will join a bet, the resulting pot will increase as well.

Unlike with traditional online casinos, you will not be banned from the platform if you are a consistently successful winner. This is because, unlike other betting platforms, where bets are made against the house and your loss is their gain.

Technology Behind Bethereum

Currently, Bethereum is still in the early stages of the project and as such, they have not completed their entire infrastructure. They do have a prototype for iOS that is due to be released just prior to the crowd sale.

However, when they are launched, you will have access to the fully functional iOS app, along with an Android and a web-based version.

Bethereum will also make use of blockchain oracles in order to receive feeds with live sports data and their results. They will only proceed with the settling of the bets when the results can be fully verified by the oracles.

Use of the Bether Token

The Bether token (BTHR) will be the native token that is used in the Bethereum ecosystem. It will be the token that will be used in all bets, as well as being the currency in which winners will be rewarded. However, the real genius of the token will be its ability to be used on other platforms.

Their vision is that players will be able to take their Bether token over to another online betting platform and use it to place bets there. The Bether token will also eventually be launched on a number of cryptocurrency exchanges so that people can easily purchase them.

Like most coins, there will be a supply limit that is capped at 1 billion Bethers. This means that those contributors or players who get their hands on the coins relatively early could see a great price appreciation. Additionally, as more people place bets with the token, this supply will decrease through a process called “token burning”.

Given that the token is being built on the Ethereum blockchain, it will be an ERC-20 token, which means that there will be a range of wallets where you can store your BTHR tokens. One of the most well known will be MyEtherWallet (MEW).

The Roadmap

The Bethereum ICO will be completed by the end of March 2018. Once this is done, two teams will commence the building and marketing of the product.

Team A will be the Dev team who will work on the core product such as the Smart contract, the Oracles and the client wallet. Team B will be the front end developers as well as the marketing team that will build awareness for Bethereum.

Taking a look into 2019, team C will be initialised, which will focus on sales. They will gather business partners for the core betting framework. These will include conventional betting agencies and other B2B clients.

In 2019, they will also have an additional developer team (Team E in the graphic) that will work on the complete Bethereum platform as well as the social app and the community generated games. You can read all about the the timeline in the Bethereum whitepaper.

Should You Contribute?

While there have been a number of notable decentralized betting startups recently, none have taken the approach that Bethereum has embarked on. Bethereum differs by focusing its philosophy around socially-interactive betting that is determined primarily by its community.

We also like the diverse and experienced team members on the Bethereum project. It is an extensive list of some of the most experienced online gaming and technology minds in the blockchain space currently. This adds weight to the prospect of a powerful product.

As for Bethereum’s ICO case, the naturally decreasing supply through token burning could lead to scarcity and thus drive the price up. This is, of course, contingent on the token’s adoption, so it is really important that the Bethereum network is able to gather enough users after is has launched.

We would also hope that once the tokens have been issued, we will have more guidance on where they will be listed for secondary market purchases.

While we cannot give investment advice at the Coin Bureau, we can conclude that from an outside perspective, the Bethereum platform is an interesting project with reasonable potential to revolutionize online betting.