Virtue Poker, the decentralized poker platform built on top of the Ethereum blockchain, will hold an initial DEX offering (IDO) on SuperStarter. The announcement follows a successful round in which VP closed funding worth $5 million.

Virtue Poker to Hold an IDO

Founded in 2016 within ConsenSys, Virtue Poker is an Ethereum-based decentralized poker platform enabling peer-to-peer networking aiming to operate as an “online poker site that’s safe, honest, and fund.”

After a few years of development, the project announced the upcoming IDO in a press release shared with CryptoPotato earlier. The statement reads that VP has partnered with SuperFarm’s recently released launchpad SuperStarter.

Apart from handling the IDO procedures, SuperFarm will be involved in other initiatives following the event, such as integrating non-fungible tokens into Virtue Poker.

“We are excited to be helping spread NFT adoption to new types of ecosystems and use cases. Virtue Poker makes for an excellent partner for our recently introduced SuperStarter platform, showcasing its enormous benefits to the SuperFam community and the high caliber of projects wishing to integrate NFTs in their stack.” – commented Elliot Wainmann – Founder of SuperFarm.

According to the announcement, VP will put a small portion of its native coin (VPP) for sale on SuperStarter. Future token holders can stake their assets to run Justice Nodes and earn 50% of the platform’s fees.

Additionally, they will access marketing initiatives, save on fees, and “shape the development of the Virtue Poker platform.”

Ryan Gittleson, Founder and CEO of VP, noted that his project was built on Ethereum because the latter enables the creation of a “provably fair and easy-to-access poker platform,” which could be “revolutionary for the multi-billion-dollar online poker industry.”

Securing $5M Funding

Before the IDO announcement, Virtue Poker completed a strategic investment round of $5 million in April 2021. Apart from Consensys, other prominent names that took part included Pantera Capital and DFG Group.

Furthermore, the statement highlighted that the Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey is a stakeholder and a spokesperson for the project.

Virtue Poker also touched upon the license it received from the Malta Gaming Authority. After working together for “nearly two years in establishing a regulatory framework,” VP became the “first and only blockchain-based company” to receive such a license from MGA.

In yet another move of further Bitcoin adoption, the American money transfer giant, MoneyGram, will allow users to buy and withdraw bitcoins from various brick-and-mortar locations.

• Cryptocurrencies continue to occupy the center stage of the fintech industry following a massive rally in both prices and popularity.
• Plenty of blue-chip and publicly traded companies have begun accepting bitcoins for their services, and some have even added it to their balance sheet, Tesla and MicroStrategy included.
• Now, it appears that the latest company to jump on the bandwagon with a move towards serious mass adoption is MoneyGram.
• The money transfer mogul has partnered up with the cryptocurrency exchange Coinme.
• The fruit of this collaboration is a feature that allows people to buy bitcoin and withdraw it from brick-and-mortar locations within the US.
• According to a CNBC report, in the coming weeks, existing and new Coinme users will be able to buy crypto with cash and withdraw it from MoneyGram’s conventional locations.
• Speaking on the matter was Alex Holmes, MoneyGram’s CEO and Chairman, who said:

This innovative partnership opens our business to an entirely new customer segment as we are the first to pioneer a crypto-to-cash model by building a bridge with Coinme to connect bitcoin to local fiat currency.

• The move comes soon after PayPal made its foray into the market, allowing millions of merchants to accept crypto for payments.

Craig Wright’s legal attempts to sue a dozen developers working on the networks of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash ABC, and Bitcoin SV have been approved. By tapping a law firm called ONTIER, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto will go after the developers to make them recover over $4 billion of BTC supposedly stolen from his computer last year.

CSW Granted Permission to Go After Bitcoin Developers

CryptoPotato reported in late February when Wright and ONTIER announced plans to pursue legal action against the developers of Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), and Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH ABC).

The firm acted on behalf of Tulip Trading Limited (TTL) – a Seychelles-based entity with Wright being the primary beneficial owner. In the statement, both parties claimed that Wright’s computer was hacked in 2020, and the perpetrators somehow stole his private keys to two addresses, which held over $4 billion in bitcoin.

Consequently, the law firm requested that the developers “enable TTL to regain access to and control of its bitcoins on the grounds that they owe Bitcoin owners both tortious and fiduciary duties under English law.”

Although their claims seemed a bit controversial, to say the least, the firm has been allowed to go forward and serve the developers, according to a statement made by ONTIER on May 12th.

It reads that the firm has “commenced the process of serving legal proceedings on 16 Bitcoin developers.” The company was granted permission to serve them out of the jurisdiction by the Business and Property Courts of the High Court in London after 145-page application submission.

The statement highlighted once again that “Dr. Wright is the inventor of Bitcoin” and described TTL as the real victim in this case.

“Tulip Trading is, purely and simply, a victim of theft. The hacking was first reported to the police in February last year. TTL has not been granted permission to seek recovery of its access to and control of its digital assets from those in a position to remedy its loss. The fact that someone has stolen TTL’s digitally-held, encrypted private Bitcoin keys does not prevent developers from deploying code to enable the rightful owner to regain control of its bitcoin.”

To Help the Masses

As with the first statement in February, ONTIER and Wright asserted that if this case succeeds, it could help numerous others victims that have been hacked in the past.

“In what may prove to be a huge relief to many, a ruling in Tulip Trading’s favor would have considerable implications for those who have lost access to their Bitcoin or had coins stolen.”

This is far from being Wright’s first controversial legal endeavor related to the cryptocurrency industry. After claiming, without conclusive evidence, though, that he is indeed Satoshi Nakamoto, his lawyers recently warned two bitcoin-related websites to remove the asset’s whitepaper as he supposedly owns legal rights to the document and the Bitcoin name.