Trust often plays a pivotal role in the adoption of online poker. But what if you introduce the credibility of blockchain to online poker? It was the vision behind developing Virtue Poker – online poker you can trust. It is a decentralized platform, leveraging the Ethereum blockchain and peer-to-peer networking to offer its users safety without compromising on the fun aspect of online gaming. Virtue Poker also recently launched on Binance Smart Chain to make the interactions even more convenient for players worldwide.
Several reasons might attract a user to join Virtue Poker. For instance, in Virtue Poker the players are always in control of their funds. Its GLI certified peer-to-peer shuffling protocol allows the inclusion of all players seated at a table in the shuffling process.
It is the only licensed blockchain-based poker platform that has got authorization from the Malta Gaming Authority. Its multi-token wagering system permits the convenient deployment of new ERC-20 tokens for wagering on the platform.
While all these factors have their contributions in pulling a chunk of players towards the platform, Virtue Poker also gives away tons of crypto to the players on a regular frequency. Do these giveaways make Virtue Poker more lucrative than regular yield farming? To make a comparison between these two, we must delve deeper into Virtue Poker’s giveaways and yield farming in general.
Virtue Poker Rundown
Virtue Poker went live for real-money gaming on Friday, May 28th. It had up to $500,000 in VPPs and ETH being given away for more than two weeks from May 28th to July 15th, 2021. For instance, as a deposit incentive, Virtue Poker offered freerolls to 288 players. The first 216 players depositing 0.1 ETH and reaching 10 GPs qualified to enter a freeroll with a 2 ETH GTD prize pool. The first 36 players depositing 0.2 ETH and reaching 25 GPs, and the first 36 players depositing 0.75 ETH and reaching 50 GPs qualified to enter a 3 ETH GTD prize pool.
It would be relevant to mention here that VPP is the native token of Virtue Poker and 17% of the total VPP tokens goes towards the community.
Apart from deposit freerolls, players or participants could earn additional ETH and VPP bonuses through signing up and/or depositing for their first time. Deposits of between 0.1 ETH and 0.75 ETH could earn a bonus anywhere between 500 and 4,000 VPP.
In addition to the VPP bonuses, any player, independent of their VPP balance, could win a bonus from 0.01 ETH up to 1.05 ETH. The bonus Rakeback percentage started from 40% and went up to as high as 210%. How well do these token giveaways stand against the staking yield? To make a comparison, we will delve deeper into the domain of DeFi yield farming.
DeFi Yield Farming: Features and Benefits
Have you ever wondered why investors, over time, diversified part of their assets into coins other than Bitcoins, the altcoins? Several reasons drove this shift, and yield-paying defi cryptos are one of them.
Yield farming in the Defi world is equivalent to yield on a bond or a dividend in the traditional world of finance. Similar to earning dividends on stocks, the yield-rate on these Defi protocols also vary depending on their projects.
The crypto market, as you might know, witnesses greater volatility in prices compared to the traditional market. It is primarily because these platforms are still evolving along with the market itself. Therefore they are more sensitive to change. But, along with the risk of high price swings, Defi yield farming carries the promise of much higher returns.
According to an estimate dating back to the end of February this year, Pancake Swap, a yield farm on the Binance Smart Chain had more than ten pairs yielding an annual APR of more than 300%. Bearn, an extensive yield farming ecosystem improving the interoperability between BSC and the Ethereum blockchain, generated more than 1000% APY with its ETH farm, while its BSC farm registered an APY of more than 300%. There were several other yield farms and yield farming aggregators that gave high returns. Let’s keep in mind these are bull market numbers.
These returns are even higher than the bonus Rakeback of 210% in Virtue Poker. But does that make Virtue Poker less lucrative? Not necessarily. The high return was when the market was green. All things change in a bear trend. One major issue with current DeFi protocols is that the earnings are fickle. Even if you see 300% or more returns, you need to be aware that this could change from today to tomorrow. Additionally, there are inherent risks of participating in new protocols offering high yield as it might be short lived. Compliance has a long way to go and DeFi companies are constantly changing the rates they offer in returns.
There’s also a difference in mentality between playing poker and participating in the massive world of DeFi, but there’s an intersection of people who have their mind on both. For those who play online poker, it may be worth their while to leave DeFi protocols on the sidelines and take their efforts to the world of Virtue Poker.