Episode 58

Betting on The Chain with SX Bet

In this episode, we are joined by Andrew Young and Kay Carson to explore how SX Bet is revolutionizing sports betting with blockchain, aiming to cut fees and increase transparency for bettors everywhere.

Kay will guide us through SX Bet's unique peer-to-peer betting exchange with no limits or bans, while Andrew Young unpacks how their platform makes mistakes right, upholding fairness in a marketplace where trust is key.

From non-custodial wallets to a betting ecosystem without withdrawal restrictions, we're uncovering how SX Bet is creating a transparent, user-empowered sportsbook for professional and crypto-native bettors alike. Stay tuned as we demystify crypto technology and provide insights into how you can join this betting revolution.

🔑 Key Topics

00:00 Blockchain platform allows cost reduction and fairness.

03:30 Audience varies in crypto knowledge, needs simple explanation.

09:16 Public API allows access to all data.

10:08 Previewing NHL game options and potential bet.

14:53 Andrew shares unconventional experiences with sportsbooks and crypto.

19:15 Personal betting journey involves live wagers, exchanges.

20:44 Effective use of site by improving odds.

24:15 Best odds, non-custodial elements for sports betting.

29:24 Enthusiastic about traditional bank exchanges and on-chain betting.

32:43 Early blockchain infrastructure, low gas fees benefits.

35:51 Proof of Stake: Alternative to Proof of Work.

38:41 Blockchain apps growing, shaping various user experiences.

43:37 Bets pay, no worries about compensation.

46:02 Reverse app and protocol development for efficiency.

48:38 Ethereum and blockchains fees, next wave prediction.

53:00 Developers build new appealing tools for growing users.

55:29 Appreciate the bonus offer from sportsbooks.

57:50 Assistance available for crypto newcomers. Just ask.

📚 Timestamped Overview

00:00 Blockchain platform for cost reduction, transparency, fairness, non-custodial, open source.

03:30 Some audience familiar with crypto, need simple explanation.

09:16 Data accessible via public API allows third-party sites to offer alerts and insights on betting activity, unlike traditional platforms with proprietary data.

10:08 Discussing NHL game odds and potential bet.

14:53 Discussion about cryptocurrency, sports betting, and unusual experience with a sportsbook.

19:15 The text discusses live betting and offering personalized lines for wagers to maximize value and prevent exploitation by sharp bettors.

20:44 Agree on using site for betting advantage.

24:15 Goal: become best, most liquid sports betting place with non-custodial, fair, transparent elements for best odds.

29:24 The speaker prefers traditional bank exchanges, sees potential in on-chain betting platforms, and notes two main user demographics: crypto native users and those using decentralized finance protocols.

32:43 Early developer created own blockchain SX Network, low gas cost.

35:51 Proof of stake is an alternative to proof of work in crypto, involving token locking for network security.

38:41 Blockchain space will have more on-chain apps, user-owned and transparent, growing in next 10-20 years.

43:37 The text discusses the importance of bets settling correctly without voiding, and the reassurance of being compensated for any errors in the wager process.

46:02 Built app, protocol, crypto advantages, store like real estate, sports betting odds.

48:38 The future of blockchains: application-specific and self-built for better user experience and liquidity.

53:00 Developers building new products appeal to different groups, including no code markets and analytics platforms with real-time data. Also, they went cross-chain for betting.

55:29 Appreciation for bonus offer from sportsbook.

57:50 Assistance available for signup, lowercase required. Support for crypto beginners.

🎞️ Top Quotes & Hooks

Understanding Cryptocurrency: "I think, you know, there's probably some some people in here who have very little experience and others with a significant amount of experience using crypto in the sports betting space or or just have a a ton of experience."
— Shane Mercer [00:03:39 → 00:03:48]

Peer-to-Peer Betting Revolution: "We wanna bring fairness to to the betting space. No bans. No limits. Wanna dive into that community ownership as opposed to a centralized entity."
— Kay Carson [00:04:28 → 00:04:37]

The Potential of Blockchain in Betting: "It's a ledger. It's pretty much a glorified spreadsheet that keeps track of every transaction. Right? So the cool thing about that in the context of betting is it provides completely unparalleled, transparency, compared to, alternatives in the space."
— Kay Carson [00:04:43 → 00:05:28]

Innovations in Sports Betting: "Sports betting is is you know, the industry has had the status quo for long enough, and now we have the technology to really shake things up, have that be peer to peer, fair, way lower way lower, vague."
— Kay Carson [00:05:29 → 00:05:41]

Web 3 and the Power of Community: "It's really community driven. So not only are you not gonna get banned or limited at, s x being an exchange, you can find that liquidity pretty easily. If you wanna chuck down, you know, larger bet, folks are really active in the troll box requesting particular odds. And, you know, it puts the power exactly where it belongs, and that's it, you know, back in the hands of of bettors."
— Kay Carson [00:06:13 → 00:06:40]

Exploring Sports Betting Online: "I'm gonna pull up, the site here now. Alright. So here we are looking at the looking at the website. I've got it pulled up here, and it looks very much like a typical, sports betting website. You know, you've got upcoming events. You've got the menu here on the left side."
— Shane Mercer [00:06:57 → 00:07:10]

Innovations in Sports Betting: "But there's a few things here that I'm looking at that are, very different, than what we might see on a typical, sports betting site."
— Shane Mercer [00:07:30 → 00:07:38]

Crypto Terminology and Sports Betting Insights: "I never in my life have I come across an experience like this with a sportsbook."
— Andrew Pace [00:14:53 → 00:15:40]

Ultimate Control in Sports Betting: "The wallet's noncustodial. Like, he just flew over that. That means that you do never you never need to prove anything about how, when, why, or what you wanna get or use your money. It's never SX's money. It doesn't even enter their ecosystem. You're connecting to a wallet separately from their system where you own your funds the entire time."
— Andrew Pace [00:15:40 → 00:16:00]

Revolutionizing Sports Betting: "Sportsbooks are designed to keep your money in their ecosystem so that you continue to play and, ideally, you continue to lose. That is not the case on s x, which that alone is one of the single most powerful things that I have ever seen in this industry. And when we talk about purifying the betting industry and inplayLIVE, holy fuck, guys. You have your money the whole time. It is never s x's money. That's number 1."
— Andrew Pace [00:16:34 → 00:17:00]

Online Gaming Tournaments: "They don't limit winners. So you can continue to play there, which is just tremendous, and I've been able to, enjoy playing here for quite a while now."
— Andrew Pace [00:17:03 → 00:17:09]

Peer-to-Peer Betting Dynamics: "Because of their fee structure, the other side of that wager was actually the best odds listed. So you were getting better odds yourself offering that wager, and anyone else looking to take that bet now had better odds than what was currently being offered because of the fee structure."
— Andrew Pace [00:17:52 → 00:18:12]

The Future of Sports Betting: "This is the best sports book I've ever come across in my life, and I will do anything to keep it around."
— Andrew Pace [00:18:49 → 00:18:54]

The Art of Live Sports Betting: "I might have a hockey game coming in where I'm like, jeez, all the sportsbooks are offering minus 1 40, and my strike price for this particular wager is actually gonna be minus 120. I can offer minus 120 for that wager, and if anyone bites on it, they're getting plus 120 on the other side of it, making it the best wager available for the other side anywhere on the Internet, anywhere in the world."
— Andrew Pace [00:19:31 → 00:19:57]

inplayLIVE Strategy: "I didn't build this. The site analyzes it for you. So we're always such a big advocate at inplayLIVE for tracking our bets, looking at the expected value, and actually deciding whether or not strategies work for us."
— Andrew Pace [00:22:17 → 00:22:29]

Sports Betting Dynamics: "There are times where they're identical, meaning that probably some programmers or whomever is offering those lines on behalf of, themselves through SX, which is super cool."
— Andrew Pace [00:24:03 → 00:24:09]

The Vision of a Leading Sports Betting Platform: "Our goal is to be the best, most liquid place in the world to to bet on sports. And to me, the sort of like non custodial elements, the fairness and the transparency aspects of SX are really actually just tools to get to that ultimate vision of of effectively having the best by far the best odds in the world. Like, we wanna have, you know, 10 x, 10 x better odds than anyone."
— Andrew Young [00:24:16 → 00:24:42]

Blockchain in Sports Betting: "So first of all, we building everything on chain, it's super complex. It's taken us, you know, 5 years to get the the product to where it is now, and I still think it's, like, really far away from where it's going to be."
— Andrew Young [00:25:18 → 00:25:30]

Democratizing Market Making: "So letting people launch their own, effectively, like, market making, tools so that anyone can effectively become their own, yeah, effectively their own market maker or book maker, whatever you wanna call it, for both pregame and, and in game."
— Andrew Young [00:26:16 → 00:26:31]

Cultivating Community Involvement in Crypto: "You need community involvement. Right? Or you need people to participate in this ecosystem to to make it more robust."
— Shane Mercer [00:27:19 → 00:27:52]

Crypto-native Users in Web 3: "We've we've got a couple market segments. I mean, you know, obviously, being in the in the web 3 and crypto space, naturally, we're gonna get, you know, quite a few crypto native users, you know, guys that have made a lot of money on their on their Dogecoin, or or crypto investors in general."
— Kay Carson [00:27:55 → 00:28:14]

The Future of Online Betting: "We're effectively, the first on chain, betting platform. So to me, like, we're it's very early in this shift towards, on chain betting platforms."
— Andrew Young [00:29:46 → 00:29:59]

Blockchain Infrastructure Evolution: "We had to create all the underlying infrastructure ourselves. And that, you know, that has effectively meant we had build our own blockchain, which is SX Network."
— Andrew Young [00:32:53 → 00:33:03]

Evolution of On-Chain Apps: "When we first got started in the space, there was a 1,000 daily active users of all on chain apps, total in the world. Now there's a couple million, so it's still very, very small, but just in the last 5 years, it's, you know, 1,000 next. And I think it will continue to, to grow pretty dramatically, over the next kind of 10 to 10 to 20 years, which means all sorts of different use cases, whether it's social media, or defi or sports betting, are gonna be far more transparent, far more user owned, and just, yeah, much more, I guess, trustworthy."
— Andrew Young [00:39:06 → 00:39:46]

Integrity in Sports Betting: "The bets settle as as is, correctly. And if they aren't, there is the recourse of you guys digging out of your wallets to pay for it yourself, which obviously I I haven't had to experience, and I'm sure has been hopefully few and far between for you guys. But, wagers pay, and you don't need to worry about, you know, whether or not you caught a broken line or something like that, and and and if you're gonna actually be compensated for that, which is definitely something that isn't the same, across the industry as well."
— Andrew Pace [00:43:46 → 00:44:12]

Understanding Cryptocurrency Infrastructure: "So it sounds like SX created its own blockchain, and you sort of started with that as a as a foundation. And then what you did is you went and built this app, if we wanna call SXBet an app, on top of the blockchain that you've already created."
— Shane Mercer [00:45:42 → 00:45:57]

Building Crypto Protocols and Business Models: "If you build a chain, it's almost like a store that owns its own, land. Right. And then, the store doesn't in a way, like it almost becomes like a real estate play, because it can, it can charge, extremely low margins because it's benefiting from the fact that more, more people are coming to the store and that benefits increase the value of the land."
— Andrew Young [00:46:02 → 00:47:03]

The Future of On-Chain Betting Exchanges: "And so I think long term, SX will actually become more of almost like a development platform where if people wanna launch their own, like, interfaces, they can essentially plug into this, like, liquidity superhighway that's on SX. And, you know, essentially allows them to like spin up their own interface that they want, or they could, they can hedge into it. Because like, again, like to us, like having the best liquidity is I think like we're, we're moving towards a world where there's gonna be like thousands of different on chain, sports betting platforms. Similar to, like, how right now there's thousands of different online betting platforms. But there's probably only gonna be, like, 1 or 2 main, liquidity protocols. And so, like, our goal is really to to win that. That's kind of, like, what we're interested in."
— Andrew Young [00:47:08 → 00:47:58]

The Evolution of Blockchain Networks: "I do think like the next wave of blockchains is going to be like application specific blockchains. So it's going to be people that built their, blockchain app on someone else's blockchain, realize that they can they can offer a way better user experience if they build out their own infrastructure themselves."
— Andrew Young [00:48:38 → 00:49:34]

Scaling User Base through Technology: "You're able to leverage blockchain technology. You know, Andrew mentioned Titan Echo, which could be used for programmatic betting, building a betting bot offering."
— Kay Carson [00:50:37 → 00:50:50]

Blockchain Integration in Sports Betting: "We're gonna continue to acquire new users and, yeah, hopefully, take over the sports betting world."
— Kay Carson [00:51:05 → 00:51:11]

Innovation in No Code and Analytics Platforms: "And what's really cool is, like, these developers are building things that really appeal to these other 2 groups. And because it's like totally new things that you never would have been able to do before. You know what I mean? Like, spin up a no code market that you bought. That's really cool. Or there's analytics platforms that, show you incredible amounts of data on both yourself, but then other bettors on the platform, in real time."
— Andrew Young [00:53:09 → 00:53:27]

Online Betting Promotions: "If you wanna complete enhanced verification, you get a $20 free bet out of the gate and a $1,000 welcome bonus at a 2% unlock rate. We're we're throwing you guys an extra 500, for INPLAY guys, 22% unlock rate, to really maximize those profits."
— Kay Carson [00:54:55 → 00:55:13]

Promo Code Announcement for SXBet: "Yeah. So when you sign up for SXbet, just type in INPLAY as your promo code, and, yeah, we'll we'll ideally have some some other exciting stuff coming down the pipes for you guys."
— Kay Carson [00:55:17 → 00:55:28]

Sportsbook Bonuses: "Usually, when we hear about bonus offers from sportsbooks, it's like, you know, kinda back up against the wall. Alright. Let me get out my glasses so I can read all the fine print on this thing, you know, to make sure I know the rules and, you know, and that my money isn't gonna be locked up in some, you know, shady sports book, you know, offshores."
— Shane Mercer [00:55:40 → 00:55:58]

Crypto Onboarding Assistance: "If you're not crypto native or you, you know, have never, operated in that space, just let us know. We're happy to to hop on a call and onboard you if you need, or or we've got a lot of, how to tutorials."
— Kay Carson [00:58:00 → 00:58:13]

🤔 Q&A

Can you give us a brief overview of what SXBet aims to achieve in the sports betting industry?

SXBet's mission is to disrupt the sports betting industry by reducing the fees to less than 0.5%, utilizing the power of blockchain technology for cost reduction and increased transparency. This setup provides a peer-to-peer betting exchange with no limits or bans, empowering bettors through a community-driven approach.

How does SXBet ensure the accuracy of bet settlements and handle disputes?

SXBet uses a system of validators, smart contracts, and decentralized data reporting to ensure accuracy and transparency in bet settlements. If a wager is settled incorrectly, the platform covers the error out of pocket. This is crucial because the decentralized nature of sports betting relies heavily on trust within the community.

What unique features does SXBet offer to its users compared to traditional sportsbooks?

SXBet offers a non-custodial wallet, allowing users complete control over their funds without withdrawal restrictions or fees. Additionally, the platform does not limit winning bettors and provides competitive odds, thanks to its low-fee structure. SXBet also stands out for its community-driven model, offering tokens as rebates and enabling anyone to start their own sportsbook without needing a license.

What type of audience is SXBet targeting with its platform?

SXBet's market segments include crypto-native users and professional sports bettors who've faced limitations or bans on other platforms. They also cater to individuals who want to operate their own sportsbooks, contributing to the decentralized finance and sports betting fusion.

How does SXBet compare to other sportsbooks in terms of live betting offerings?

SXBet's live offerings are on par with other sportsbooks, indicating that similar programming determines the live lines. However, they are continuously working to remove barriers for market makers to improve in-play odds and strive to offer the best odds globally.

What kind of bonuses does SXBet offer for new users through the inplayLIVE community?

New users can receive a $20 free bet and a $1,000 welcome bonus at a 2% unlock rate through the standard welcome offer. By using the promo code 'INPLAY', they can also get an extra $500 bonus at a 22% unlock rate, adding up to a $1500 bonus which unlocks as they bet, with no withdrawal restrictions.

How does the SXBet platform encourage responsible betting?

SXBet promotes responsible betting through its transparent performance tracking and analytics provided by a third-party site, SX-lab.bet. They also provide access to customer support and onboarding assistance for those new to the space.

In what way does SXBet offer transparency to its users?

The platform showcases an unprecedented level of transparency by displaying the entire order book, all trades, and allowing users to negotiate their own bets. This includes seeing all betting liquidity, recent bets, and setting their own odds.

What are the benefits of using SX's own blockchain for their sports betting app?

By building their own blockchain, SXBet can offer low gas costs, ensure the stability of the betting points through smart contracts, and allow others to launch their own sports betting interfaces and protocols. This specialized approach facilitates better user experience, improved liquidity, and fosters a broader application ecosystem.

What kind of participation opportunities are available for individuals interested in the SX ecosystem?

Individuals can buy SX tokens, run their own validator on the network, and earn staking yields. This involvement not only supports the platform but also provides an opportunity for participants to earn from the growth of the network. The diverse categories of cryptocurrencies, decentralized computers, and on-chain apps inherent in the platform suggest vast potential for user growth and development in the digital space.

❇️ Important Notes & Bullets

  • SXBet aims to reduce sports betting fees using blockchain for cost efficiency and transparency

  • Peer-to-peer betting exchange model presented, featuring no bans, limits, and community-driven betting

  • Highlight of SXBet's website, emphasizing crypto integration and live event betting volumes

  • Details on SXBet's settlement of wagers and the protocol using validators and smart contracts for accuracy

  • The platform’s user incentives with tokens and its philosophy of decentralization and community ownership

  • Insights into SXBet's live offerings, market segments, and their strategy for providing better odds

  • Testimonial of SXBet’s non-custodial wallet feature, no limit on winning players, and competitive fee structure

  • Introduction of a third-party analytics site for users to monitor betting performance

  • Promotion of InplayLIVE's $1500 sign-up bonus with promo code "INPLAY" on SXBet

  • Vision for SXBet as a blockchain sports betting development platform and outline of their "gas tax" revenue model

  • Features of SXBet such as transparent order book, live negotiation, and betting flexibility discussed

  • Explanation of the SX ecosystem, including user participation with FX tokens and differentiating types of cryptocurrencies

  • Call to action for listeners to engage with the podcast and join inplayLIVE with code 'BEHINDTHELINES'

👋 About The Host & Guests

Shane Mercer is the dynamic host of "Behind the Lines," a sought-after podcast demystifying the sports betting industry. His charismatic presence on the show has cultivated a dedicated listener base, attracted by his ability to distill complex betting concepts into engaging conversations. Alongside co-host Andrew Pace, the founder of inplayLIVE, Shane guides listeners through the intricacies of betting, promotes interactive listener engagement, and provides exclusive content with his promo codes. His genuine passion for sports betting shines through in every episode as he interviews various industry experts, ensuring his audience is always in the know.

Andrew Pace is a figure adept in online sports betting, known for dropping knowledge bombs with ease. His chance interaction with the sportsbook SX led to an uncharacteristic moment of transparency on his part. Usually private about his betting tactics and connections with the inplayLIVE community, Andrew felt compelled to share openly in SX's chat—breaking his usual reserve. This marked a notable deviation in his approach, showing a blend of his expertise and a newfound willingness to embrace openness in a realm where information is power. Andrew's biography narrates a blend of mastery and unpredictability in the competitive landscape of digital betting and cryptocurrency.

Andrew Young is a trailblazing entrepreneur revolutionizing the sports betting arena with his company SX Bet. He aims to drastically reduce the standard betting vig from 5-7% to a groundbreaking 0.5%. This tenfold reduction is part of a greater mission to make sports betting more affordable and fair for everyone. The distinctiveness of Andrew's company lies in its technological foundation—SX is built on blockchain, ensuring enhanced security and transparency. Aware of the complexities of blockchain technology, Young is also keen on educating his audience, positioning s x as not only a financial disruptor but a beacon of innovation in the sports betting industry.

Kay Carson is a visionary in the world of digital transactions, particularly in the betting industry. A fervent advocate for blockchain technology, she views it as more than a ledger; it's a means to ensure unparalleled transparency and fairness. Rallying against the constraints imposed by centralized betting platforms, Kay promotes a decentralized approach. Determined to eliminate unfair limits and bans, she champions a future where every bet is recorded on an immutable blockchain, granting power and assurance back to the users. Her name is synonymous not just with expertise in blockchain, but also with a relentless pursuit of integrity within the betting space.

📜 Full Transcript

Shane Mercer [00:00:00]:

Okay. Umm.

Andrew Pace [00:00:05]:

I followed it, Shane. Come on.

Shane Mercer [00:00:07]:

You know, did you Pace? I've I've can you can you can you, you know, repeat that back to me in a language I might understand? Hello, and welcome to another episode of Behind the Lines, the only podcast purifying the sports betting industry. Remember to like, download, subscribe, follow us on all the socials @ inplayLIVE, and if you wanna see what inplayLIVE is all about behind the scenes, we've got that promo code for you. That's 'BEHINDTHELINES', all caps. Alright. A really, really cool show for you here. Super excited. As always, we've got the host, my co host, Andrew Pace, founder of inplayLIVE. But with us today, we've got 2 very special guests.

Shane Mercer [00:00:57]:

We have Andrew Young, cofounder of the SX Network, which includes SXBet, and we've got his colleague, Kay Carson, head of marketing, here with us as well. Welcome to both of you. Thanks so much for joining the show.

Andrew Young [00:01:12]:

Yeah. Thanks for having us. Excited to be here.

Kay Carson [00:01:14]:

Thanks for having us. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:01:15]:

We're we're both really excited, to have you, both on the show here because, we've done a little bit of, conversation where we've had a little bit of conversation around exchanges. We've had another exchange on the show, but SXBet seems like a very large exchange, and I don't want to, take too much away. But, Andrew, tell us a little bit about SXBet. What is it? How does it work? We know it's an exchange, and that's kind of a newer concept still in the North American space. So so just give us sort of a a broad overview of what it is you guys are doing over there.

Andrew Young [00:01:51]:

Yeah. Totally. So s x is our mission is to lower the big for sports betting, down to less than 50 basis points. So less than 0.5% is our goal, which is effectively a, over 10 x reduction from the industry standard of, you know, 5 to 7%, which seems egregiously high for for most people that kinda head to the space. And what's unique about s x is that we actually, have built the entire back end on a blockchain. So I can kinda go into, I'm not sort of totally familiar on how sort of crypto native the the your audience is, so I'm happy to go into, like, what a blockchain is. We'll find out. Yeah.

Andrew Young [00:02:37]:

So there's a but the idea is essentially, like, by being built on a blockchain, it allows for massive cost reduction, which we pass fully to users. It also allows for a fully transparent and fully fair, marketplace, which I think is incredibly important, especially for this sort of industry. And it also has a number of other really cool sort of benefits. You know, the platform is non custodial, so you keep control of your of your, essentially, your assets in your own wallet at all times. And, and then finally, which we can kinda dive into more, it's is open source. So it allows other sort of developers to build on top of what we've built, and allows essentially the community to really sort of run as well as own, the projects, which I think to me is the most important thing.

Shane Mercer [00:03:30]:

Okay. So, I'll I'll just sort of start off by saying, you know, you're asking about our audience and how familiar they are with crypto and and the space. You know? Some of them more familiar than others. I think, you know, there's probably some some people in here who have very little experience and others with a significant amount of experience using crypto in the sports betting space or or just have a a ton of experience. But I'll just, you know, sort of preface all of this by saying I'm not really that smart. So I'm gonna need this all explained to me in, like, you know, like, as if I'm, like, a grade 8 student or something. Okay? So, you know, just just really kind of, you know, dumb it down as much as possible just for my own personal benefit. Alright.

Shane Mercer [00:04:07]:

you know, Kaye, as as the person sort of behind marketing, that's kind of your job in a lot of ways. Right? It's to sort of, hey. Sell this to the public. Help them understand. How would you describe it if you were sort of, you know, talking to somebody who might have, like, a a, you know, high school education?

Kay Carson [00:04:22]:

For sure. I mean, right out of the gate, betting exchange. Right? So we we wanted to be peer to peer. We wanna bring fairness to to the betting space. No bans. No limits. Wanna dive into that community ownership as opposed to a centralized entity. In terms of the blockchain tech, you know, it it is the it is the the future, the way that we're going.

Kay Carson [00:04:43]:

Right? So, for those of you who don't know what blockchain is, it's it's a ledger. It's pretty much a glorified spreadsheet that keeps track of every transaction. Right? So the cool thing about that in the context of betting is it provides completely unparalleled, transparency, compared to, alternatives in the space, which are centralized entities where you deposit onto a, platform, you bet. Don't win too much though. Okay? Like, we know what happens when you do that. Right? We don't want any limits or bans. So, what this I and I'm sure your audience is is is very familiar with the, good old limits, but Yeah. We wanna we wanna decentralize it.

Kay Carson [00:05:28]:

Right? We you know, sports betting is is you know, the industry has had the status quo for long enough, and now we have the technology to really shake things up, have that be peer to peer, fair, way lower way lower, vague, and and sports betting, like like boxing or any, you know, sports, you know, it's a game of inch inches. Right? Like, it it allows you to be much more profitable when you're maximizing, due to, you know, reduced fees and commissions and big.

Shane Mercer [00:05:57]:

Yeah. When you when you talk about, limits and, you know, you said don't win too much, but I I think a big part of this is there are no limits at at the SX Bet site or at least we're not gonna be limited on the individual customer level. Yeah.

Kay Carson [00:06:13]:

Yeah. Absolutely. And I will say one thing about web 3 in general, it's it's really community driven. So not only are you not gonna get banned or limited at, s x being an exchange, you can find that liquidity pretty easily. If you wanna chuck down, you know, larger bet, folks are really active in the troll box requesting particular odds. And, you know, it puts the power exactly where it belongs, and that's it, you know, back in the hands of of bettors.

Shane Mercer [00:06:42]:

Okay. I wanna sort of bring it up here. And and for everybody out there that is, just listening to us and and not necessarily watching on YouTube, Just, for all of you out there, I suggest going to YouTube or at least, exploring the site on your own at some point when you have a chance, but I'm gonna pull up, the site here now. Alright. So here we are looking at the looking at the website. I've got it pulled up here, and it looks very much like a typical, sports betting website. You know, you've got upcoming events. You've got the menu here on the left side.

Shane Mercer [00:07:11]:

You know, a lot of, you know, NHL happening tonight. Here, we're recording this on a Monday. So, you know, we've got we've got a sort of a full NHL slate, and that's kind of what I'm looking at here. I can go to the the in place side and and look at some of the the live, wager possibilities. We've got this Chelsea Everton game, taking place right now. But there's a few things here that I'm looking at that are, very different, than than what we might see on a typical, sports betting site. So first of all, it's, all the crypto markets up here, across the top, with with live prices. But then also in here too, we've got, like, an amount of money, here.

Shane Mercer [00:07:49]:

And and, you know, I'm wondering what this is what this means exactly. So it's it's you know, I'm showing $14,785 on the Chelsea Everton game. Is that the current handle on the exchange? Is that what I'm looking at?

Andrew Young [00:08:03]:

Yeah. So that's current handle essentially matched volume on the on the platform. If you actually click into that Chelsea Everton game, just click.

Shane Mercer [00:08:10]:

Yeah.

Andrew Young [00:08:11]:

So this is where kind of what's really cool. You actually can see the order book. So if anyone's ever used, like, a crypto exchange like Binance or Coinbase or anything like that, you know that essentially, rather than just giving you the price, there's like a live order book that shows all the different bet offers on the platform, as well as actually all the trades too, like like you're looking at through right now. So all every single trade that, takes place on the platform is fully transparent. You can actually, you know, there's a live ticker tape at the bottom that shows all the most recent bets as well. And, yeah. So I mean, that just kinda shows you what the unparalleled transparency of, of using a betting change like s x. That

Shane Mercer [00:08:53]:

that's pretty cool. I've never sort of seen something like that on a on a sports betting site, especially even just listing the handle, right off the bat. But then to be able to go back and look and see, wow, this is what every transaction, transaction, you know, that's taken place on this game over over the course, I guess, you know, since the pregame market? Like, you know, is is it just listed all the way back to to as soon as the line opened?

Andrew Young [00:09:16]:

Yeah. Exactly. And, and what's also cool too is you can actually you can actually, there's third party. So all of our data is is like, we have a public API where all of our data is accessible. So people have actually built third party sites that, that give you, like, alerts when, you know, certain things are bet, as well as you can actually see, like, what, certain bettors have have, have placed bets on as well. And so, like, essentially, all the data is public. This is totally different than, you know, a traditional a traditional, platform where all those data is fully proprietary and effectively not shown to users. And I think that's just, like, one of the really cool things, beyond obviously just the order book where you can actually see, you know, all the different bets, betting liquidity that that's available.

Shane Mercer [00:10:08]:

Yeah. Yeah. So if I wanted to so so let's just say, for example, I come on here. Now I've I've moved over. Now we're looking at, the New York Islanders, New Jersey devils, game taking place, tonight. So NHL game happening tonight. And I see, you know, a few offerings, I guess, we'll we'll call them, but, you know, I'm looking at the puck line here and, you know, the New Jersey devils minus 1a half. If I think the devils are gonna win tonight, I might be interested in the minus 1a half here, and I have a, you know, an amount $893.

Shane Mercer [00:10:36]:

Is that kind of the max that I could that I could place on this wager at 3.45?

Andrew Young [00:10:42]:

Yeah. Exactly. So that that's essentially someone's offer of, on the other side. So you can exact you you can you can that's effectively the max bet available at that at those odds. Typically, a sports book, in a way has, like, an internal order book because there'll be, like, a a max bet available at certain odds. And then when you do that max bet, the odds change. Whereas, I guess, effectively, we just make all that data fully fully public. So you can actually see like what will happen to the odds as you place different bets.

Andrew Young [00:11:11]:

You can also offer your own bets. Obviously that's like one of the huge benefits of a, of a betting exchange. It's, it's maybe sometimes easier to visualize with, American odds. So if you go to the that gear icon on the top right, and change to, American odds, just it's sometimes a little bit easier to explain.

Shane Mercer [00:11:30]:

Sure. Sure. I mean, I'm a decimal, you know, guy myself, but, hey, you know, you wanna you wanna talk about American over here? We we can do that.

Andrew Young [00:11:37]:

Just purely for descriptive reasons. So yeah. So if you go back to the exchange sorry. Yeah. Just go back to the, the order book. Yeah. Just there we go. Yeah.

Andrew Young [00:11:48]:

So if you click on the doubles, you know, the, yeah, you can click on it really or the

Shane Mercer [00:11:55]:

big odds there. The the 3 point Yeah.

Andrew Young [00:11:57]:

So Yeah. Yeah. So if you so the this is really the beauty of Sx. So if you wanna just take the offer, that's effectively what's called a market order. And that's just simply taking someone else's bet. And it's kind of like what if you use a sports book, effectively everything is a market order. Right? Because they're offering you odds, and then you you're you're placing that bet. The beauty of s x is you you actually click on limit, it's just to the right.

Andrew Young [00:12:23]:

Yeah. This actually lets you set your own odds. So if if instead you you you were like, okay. You know, I don't really want plus 245. I actually want plus 275 or even plus 280. You can actually enter, you can actually enter, you know, plus 280, plus 275. And essentially, you'll actually see that what's gonna happen is you're gonna offer minus 275. Right? Because the inverse of plus 275 is minus 275.

Andrew Young [00:12:50]:

And what will happen is your offer will actually show up on the islander side of the order book as a, hey, I'm offering, you know, I'm offering a bet at minus 275. So that's how the odds get tighter on s x. That's effectively the beauty of exchange is that you can both take bets or or offer the offer your own.

Shane Mercer [00:13:10]:

Wow. Very, very cool. Okay. One more thing I just wanna ask you about that is a little bit different, than than what we see on on typical sportsbooks. But is this running chat over here on the right side, who are these people? What are we talking about? What's going on over here?

Andrew Young [00:13:28]:

I'm sorry. Yeah. So one of the really cool things too is you can you can actually, you know, effectively offer your own bets, whenever you want. Like, sometimes you're just kinda like chatter of different things, you know, so there's just kinda like different, you know, people chatting or whatever. But, if you scroll up, you can actually see people, like, creating their own creating their own odds. You know, like there's all sorts of crazy stuff. So, right now, it seems like a lot of people just kinda talk about random stuff. But closer to closer to really big events, people will actually go in here and say like, Hey, I'm offering minus 275, which is, you know, better odds than pinnacle or XYZ sportsbook.

Andrew Young [00:14:12]:

Why don't you, if you want to bet the other side, like, we can kind of make a deal so people will negotiate, you know, different different bets with each other.

Shane Mercer [00:14:21]:

Right. Okay. So this is sort of a a a sort of a place for, kind of the marketplace to come and chat with each other and and, you know, talk about things a little bit, you know, and kind of, give it that sort of, not face to face element, but a but a person to person kind of element.

Andrew Young [00:14:40]:

Yeah. Exactly.

Shane Mercer [00:14:41]:

Yeah. Cool. Okay. Pace, you've got a lot of experience using this site. You've you've at least got a lot more experience than I do. Talk to us a little bit about how it's gone for you so far.

Andrew Pace [00:14:53]:

Yeah. Well, I think that, when you fly through some crypto terminology like Andrew did at the beginning of this, we kinda missed a mic drop moment there. And, when I stumbled across SX, I jumped on their chat, and I don't know what came over me. It must have been the environment. But, usually, when we go talk to a sportsbook, the last thing I'm gonna talk about is whether or not they limit players, and the last thing I'm gonna do is talk to them about a community called inplayLIVE because I don't want them to know anything about, my intention with said sports book. But, yeah, something came over me, and I was chatting with your guys' good pal, and I just threw it all out there. And, I, I never in my life have I come across an experience like this with a sportsbook. So Andrew mentioned, hey.

Andrew Pace [00:15:40]:

The wallet's noncustodial. Like, he just flew over that. That means that you do never you never need to prove anything about how, when, why, or what you wanna get or use your money. It's never s x's money. It doesn't even enter their ecosystem. You're connecting to a wallet separately from their system where you own your funds the entire time. Like, that is the ultimate mic drop in the sports betting industry imaginable because even the most reputable sportsbooks that we work with, like Pinnacle and Bookmaker, you might not be able to access your money during certain times of the week. For example, Bookmaker doesn't process withdrawals on Saturdays Sundays and outside of business hours.

Andrew Pace [00:16:20]:

Number 2, you have a withdraw period per time frame that is free. And after that, you have to incur a fee to move your funds out of the account. Sportsbooks are designed to keep your money in their ecosystem so that you continue to play and, ideally, you continue to lose. That is not the case on s x, which that alone is one of the single most powerful things that I have ever seen in this industry. And when we talk about purifying the betting industry and inplayLIVE, holy fuck, guys. You have your money the whole time. It is never s x's money. That's number 1.

Andrew Pace [00:17:00]:

Number 2, we obviously touched on this. They don't limit winners. So you can continue to play there, which is just tremendous, and I've been able to, enjoy playing here for for quite a while now. They just ran a tournament. It was called their arbitrar Arbitrum Launch Tournament. And, I actually joined a couple weeks late, and I ended up finishing, I think, in 8th or 9th place. And I've got $1700, USD t USDT token coming into my account in the next 24 hours, for just my typical play, which which was also, profitable during that that same time frame. So that was really nice.

Andrew Pace [00:17:38]:

Shane, with that, New Jersey Devils example that you were just listing there, Andrew said, let's say you don't like those odds of, plus 245. Let's let's go up to, plus 275, and let's offer that. Because of their fee structure, the other side of that wager was actually the best odds listed. So you were getting better odds yourself offering that wager, and anyone else looking to take that bet now had better odds than what was currently being offered because of the fee structure. And that's because they're not taking a cut or a significant cut, on all the wagers that are being placed. So Yeah. It's like true peer to peer betting. We've had exchanges on this podcast before where they talk about the fee structure associated with it.

Andrew Pace [00:18:27]:

And I don't wanna rip an exchange in any way, shape, or form because I I genuinely believe that that's such a great way to wager given that it does allow winners and you don't need to worry about some of the stresses that you have in the industry. Well, you're now in a position where the the very exchange that you're making the wager on isn't charging you to do it. It's fucking insane. This is the best sports book I've ever come across in my life, and I will do anything to keep it around. Now one last point that I wanted to touch on relative to exchanges is that I personally don't have experience with exchanges offering live betting. So there's a couple of things there. I know we jumped into that Chelsea game. That was actually a live running, game with offerings available well live.

Andrew Pace [00:19:15]:

Well, you guys know at inplayLIVE and my personal betting journey. I pretty much only wager live. So here I come into these these games, on an exchange where I actually do have the ability to wager, but not only that, offer, lines myself. So sometimes, you know, I might have a hockey game coming in where I'm like, jeez, all the sportsbooks are offering minus 1 40, and my strike price for this particular wager is actually gonna be minus 120. I can offer minus 120 for that wager, and if anyone bites on it, they're getting plus 120 on the other side of it, making it the best wager available for the other side anywhere on the Internet, anywhere in the world. So there might be some super sharp bettors that come in and go, oh, I can arb they can arb my line that I've offered, but meanwhile, I want the uncovered minus 120 side because my data has told me that that's the strikes strike point for that particular bet. It's just incredible. Now doing that, of course, you have to make sure that, like, if a goal scored or anything happened that someone super sharp doesn't come in and snipe the bet after you've left you have to you have to close the offering yourself, which I I've been doing.

Andrew Pace [00:20:25]:

But, just a ton of fun, being in this ecosystem, and I think that, yeah, it's really just the beginning. Also too, I mean, Andrew, maybe you can touch on some of the tracking and things like that. I I've got, my last month's worth of wagers here available. I can actually share those, Shane, if if you wanna see. But, Andrew, perhaps you could touch on that and its relevance.

Andrew Young [00:20:44]:

I totally agree. And that's actually the best way to use the site is, if the line is minus 110, minus 110, you and, you know, you're okay with minus 102, you're effectively offering plus 102, which to, you know, there's a ton of, like, bots and stuff on the site that they just see positive e b. Right? Because the the true line is plus 100, you're offering plus 102, so they'll take it right away. And, you know, maybe arbitrage somewhere else or do do what do whatever. But for you, you just improved your your odds by actually 8, you know, your line by 8¢ from minus 1 10 to minus 1 102. So, that is kind of the beauty of of the platform. Yeah. This is also really cool too.

Andrew Young [00:21:26]:

This is actually a third party site, built by, one of the developers in the ecosystem. We just gave him a small grant and they sort of built this whole thing. It's called, s x, dash lab.vet. Again, all the data is fully public, which is really cool. So, yeah, you can actually see, you can actually it also breaks it down by sport. Yeah. So you can actually see, like, oh, this is this is your your betting stuff. Yeah.

Andrew Young [00:21:51]:

So this is, like, all of, Andrew's, you know, performance by sport, hockey, basketball, baseball. You've been obviously been crushing it, which is great to see. Yeah. I mean, if you I think if you scroll down too, there's even more stuff too. But yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:22:07]:

I just, Andrew, sorry. I just took a screenshot of one of the sections on there just so we could we could pop it up. But, yeah, this is this is my last month. But, yeah, it's it's it it's it just so you guys know, I didn't build this. The site analyzes it for you. So we're always such a big advocate at inplayLIVE for tracking our bets, looking at the expected value, and actually deciding whether or not strategies work for us. Well, this is these are my bets from the last month on s x. While I can't input my other bets from my other sites that I'm using into here, Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:22:39]:

I've got I've got this little snapshot of, you know, kinda saying, you know, is what I'm doing working, or not, which we talk about responsible betting tools in this industry and how they they never really exist. Well, this one sure does, and it's readily accessible, and and the data is provided for you in in a matter of seconds.

Andrew Young [00:22:57]:

Yeah. It's really cool. I think, there's honestly it's hard to talk about it, because there's so many, different things about it. I I I really appreciate your comments and it's the best sports book. I I usually just say it's the most unique sports book or or most unique for sure, because it is, it's definitely the most, fair, definitely the most transparent. And we think long term as we get more and more, you know, users to the platform, as well as more developers, that's actually a bigger and bigger part of our sort of focus. The, the odds will also become the best in the world. But right now sort of, for pregame, we're we're sort of close to maybe, like, where kind of place for for certain sports.

Andrew Young [00:23:36]:

But our our in play, liquidity, and odds are, sort of still need some work, I'd say.

Andrew Pace [00:23:42]:

Yeah. So with with the live offerings, you say that those might need a little bit of work. Can you kind of elaborate on that a little bit? Because I I use your live lines, and that's mostly where I wager. They're very comparable and similar to a lot of other sportsbooks. In fact, I I see that there are times where they're identical, meaning that probably some some programmers or whomever is is offering those lines on behalf of, themselves through SX, which is super cool. But, yeah, can you touch on, like, where you think it's kind of lacking or or what you kind of envision in that area?

Andrew Young [00:24:15]:

Yeah. No. So, I mean, I like, our goal is to be the best, most liquid place in the world to to bet on sports. And to me, the sort of like non custodial elements, the fairness and the transparency aspects of SX are really actually just tools to get to that ultimate vision of of effectively having the best by far the best odds in the world. Like, we wanna have, you know, 10 x, 10 x better odds than anyone. So that's, like I said, less than, we call it actually internally that minus 101 minus 101 vision. The idea is like every single line should be minus 101 on both sides, which again, I think should be possible, just given kinda like the whole, you know, technology stack that we've built. And also, like, which we'll talk a little bit also, like, the monetization, all the different things of how how SX is built, truly gives us, like, a fundamentally unique kind of, advantage and and allows us to really achieve that.

Andrew Young [00:25:15]:

But yeah. So I think there's a lot of things. So first of all, we building everything on chain, it's super complex. It's taken us, you know, 5 years to get the the product to where it is now, and I still think it's, like, really far away from where it's going to be. And, so the the big thing for us is, we have, I would say often the best pregame MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL odds typically, Just because we have so many different market makers competing to, you know, offer better and better, better and better odds. But our pre our in place still needs work, which typically that makes sense. Like, that's obviously more complex and takes it takes it's a higher barrier to entry for people to, you know, market make, live, obviously, that it is compared to to free game. So one of the things we're focusing a lot of our time on is is trying to remove that lower that barrier as much as possible.

Andrew Young [00:26:16]:

So let letting people launch their own, effectively, like, market making, tools so that anyone can effectively become their own, yeah, effectively their own market maker or book maker, whatever you wanna call it, for both pregame and, and in game. And, and particularly like no code tools. So, like, we want it so that you don't have to have any technical skills at all. And so that's something that we've been spending a lot of time, reaching out to projects in the space to give them grants to build this tooling. And there's a couple that are sort of on the way. One of them is a thing called Titan Echo, which again, it's like an open source project that, allows people to launch their own no code market making tools. And effectively what it does is, it allows you to effectively copy other market makers on s x, copy their odds so that, you know, allows you to sort of negate having to have your own, like, odds feed. Wow.

Andrew Young [00:27:11]:

But, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of there's so many different things. There's so many different things we could touch on. Yeah.

Shane Mercer [00:27:19]:

Okay. I I wanna get into a little bit more of that, but but first, I wanna get a sense of of who you're after here to grow this because, you know, you need you need community involvement. Right? Or you need people to participate in this ecosystem to to make it more robust. So, Kaye, how do you go about that? Who are you going after? How do you target them? Is this made for people who, are already sort of deep into the crypto space? Is that kind of the the idea behind it, or, you know, are you coming after after dumb old me?

Kay Carson [00:27:53]:

Well, we we we funny you mentioned. We've we've got a couple market segments. I mean, you know, obviously, being in the in the web 3 and crypto space, naturally, we're gonna get, you know, quite a few crypto native users, you know, guys that have made a lot of money on their on their Dogecoin, or or crypto investors in general. Right? So, we have certainly the the crypto is a market segment, but we also have a lot of professional sports bettors. How a lot of people find us is, you know, they've been limited. They've been banned. They're looking for, you know, a place where they can lay down some volume, or just the opportunity, to to market make as well. So, the tech is there for for that audience that's looking to, you know, potentially do this professionally and and scale accordingly.

Andrew Pace [00:28:44]:

What's crazy about what she just said though is, like, if you wanna start a sports book, you can just start it on this platform.

Shane Mercer [00:28:50]:

Just start it there.

Andrew Pace [00:28:50]:

Yeah. You don't you don't need the license. You don't need all the things. You can just offer the odds on on SX. Like, that's crazy.

Andrew Young [00:28:56]:

Yeah. So that and and, like, that's I mean, that's true, you know, with any betting exchange really. Like, I think like in a lot of ways, the, the betting exchange aspect of best Saks is actually potentially the least unique, parts of it. Because, like, you know, there is traditional by any chance that do exist. Betfair obviously be the the big one. There's Smarkets. There's all sorts of, you know, there's STX now, which I think is pretty cool. I know I know you got them on the pod as well.

Andrew Young [00:29:24]:

So I'm I'm a huge fan of traditional bank exchanges. Like like you said, I think they are huge step up from traditional, sportsbooks, minus, like, the really sharp sportsbooks, like Pinnacle and things like that. But, Yeah. I I like the the really cool aspects of what we're building to me is, like, the fact like, we're effectively, the first on chain, betting platform. So to me, like, we're it's very early in this shift towards, on chain betting platforms. It's kinda like to me, it's pretty clear that, like, then, you know, we're kind of in current era of, like, online sports betting, and then the next the next era is gonna be, on chain betting because it like you said, it has all these huge advantages just in terms of fairness, transparency, better odds should have better odds, and and things like that. So just to add to Katie's answer though, we for sure, we have 2 very, I would say well defined sort of demos of people that use the platform. It's definitely crypto native users who, you know, they already using decentralized finance protocols for fun.

Andrew Young [00:30:36]:

They already, you know, they own tokens, things like that. And so SX in a lot of ways is kinda like DeFi meets sports betting. We don't need to go into, like, what DeFi is, but, so that's kinda like one segment. And then the other segment is is definitely people who, are effectively professional sports bettors who, you know, care about better odds, care about not being limited, all of all those types of things.

Shane Mercer [00:30:58]:

Yeah. Well, I I know that our audience represents a pretty sort of broad cross section of those 2, you know, which so you're definitely, you know, on the right pod speaking to the right people, here. Now everybody is gonna wanna know, though, okay. So you're not taking a fee. So how are you making money?

Andrew Young [00:31:16]:

Yeah. So one of the things we sort of realized, or I should say I sort of realized over the last 6 months, is what's really cool with what we built is there's actually like 3 as aspects to it. So the first aspect is like the s x bed interface, which is, you know, the consumer facing aspect of it. That's what everyone sort of sees. That's actually built on this thing called the SX protocol, which is a suite of smart contracts. Smart contracts is like a fancy word for, software controlled wallets. This is kind of how I would describe it. And that powers the entire back end.

Andrew Young [00:31:53]:

So, like, when I make a bet, buy a bet against k, the, crypto or I should say, stable points because most of the bets are done in USDC. The the stable points leave my wallet and they leave K's wallet at the exact same time and they go into, this the SX smart contracts. These are effectively this effectively a special wallet that is, controlled purely by, code. It's all the codes open source as well. So that's how you're able to have, like, this, you know, transparency and and sort of trust in it. And then, and then, essentially, the the the final aspect of it is we actually built, we actually built our own blockchain. So that's called SX network. And that is what SX protocol is built on and what SX bet is on top.

Andrew Young [00:32:43]:

And so one of the things that's really cool so I guess one of the virtues and issues of being so early in the space, because we did start so long ago, is, we had to create all the underlying infrastructure ourselves. And that, you know, that has effectively meant we had build our own blockchain, which is SX Network. And, the way blockchains work is there's essentially a, like the way blockchains work, the way that makes them trustless and decentralized is, anyone can anyone can use them, but you have to pay like a small gas fee and that gas fee is determined by effectively the, by, by demand. So So like if anyone's ever used like Ethereum or Bitcoin, you know that you pay this like, typically pretty small, I mean, sometimes it could be higher, transaction fee. And that goes to the validators of the network or some people call them miners. And it was noted to go into like the whole, I mean, I'm happy to go into a long winded sort of discussion about like what that is, but what's interesting is because we sort of own the underlying chain, we can actually, like the platform can effectively monetize at the chain level instead of monetizing at the, s x protocol or the s x, that level. And so that means, and, like, our chain has extremely low gas cost, like, sub sub a penny. And so, in a way, and again, that fee doesn't actually go to us.

Andrew Young [00:34:18]:

It goes to, the like miners of our network. So these, so these are people who essentially, state s x tokens and by staking tokens, it allows them to secure the network. Anyway, so this is a long minute way of saying that, this is like how we sort of plan to monetize long term is, by building up this chain which then effectively allows other people to, both ourselves, but then also other people to launch their own sort of, interfaces and protocols on top of.

Shane Mercer [00:34:50]:

Okay.

Andrew Pace [00:34:55]:

I followed it. I followed it, Shane. Come on.

Shane Mercer [00:34:58]:

You know, did you Pace? I've I've I mean, can you can you can you, you know, repeat that back to me in a language I might understand.

Andrew Pace [00:35:05]:

Well, the the thing is though is that for for I think for this space, it is relevant because that is the language of of the crypto world. Right?

Shane Mercer [00:35:13]:

Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:35:13]:

So, like, Andrew, if if if we wanted to somehow participate in the belief of that system, would you how how could we do that?

Andrew Young [00:35:22]:

Yeah. So you can so actually let me, so two things. So just to answer your question real quick, you can essentially buy FX tokens and then run your own validator. So, that effectively allows you to secure the network. So that's like, I guess one way is to essentially be a validator on the network. You earn a yield for doing that as well, which is called the staking yields. And that's again, we didn't pioneer that. That's, most crypto projects use some sort of staking model.

Andrew Young [00:35:51]:

It's called proof of stake, which which is sort of in contrast to proof of work, which is what I think a lot of people sort of they first hear about crypto. That's what Bitcoin uses. It's like a, sort of very environmentally, computationally heavy sort of way of securing their chain, leads to all that, like, you know, environmental waste, all that type of stuff. So proof of state is different. It just requires you to lock up tokens to secure the network. To give you kind of like a high level overview on crypto itself though, I think is might might be helpful. So crypto to me is really split into, like, 3 core groups, or, like, categories. So the first category is what people think of as, like, cryptocurrencies.

Andrew Young [00:36:33]:

So, and the funny thing is most people just see that and just assume that's the whole space, and, and it's not. And so cryptocurrencies is really at this point just Bitcoin. And you know, it's effectively trying to become, you know, its own currency, and maybe displace gold or, you know, maybe eventually become kind of its own, medium exchange itself. And that's category number 1. Category number 2 is, what Ethereum is. And in a way it's like a decentralized, decentralized computer or decentralized internet. And it's almost like you can think of it almost like an app store that allows you to create your own apps, blockchain apps. And that's the final category.

Andrew Young [00:37:18]:

And that's actually what I've got me really excited about the space. Because back in, like, 2017 is when we started to see the first, like, on chain apps sort of hit the market. It's almost like when you start starting to see the first websites hit, the internet people are like, oh, I actually like understand what sort of understand like the point of the internet now. Cause I see like a website and I can interface with it. So in a lot of ways, like, to me, on chain is the new online. It's it's very early though. It's, like, 1995. I don't know.

Andrew Young [00:37:45]:

That's where I was born. But that that was back when back when there was very few websites that were you shouldn't have been useful or anything like that. And, and and similar to, like, how, like, the Internet allows you to send and receive, data or content, peer to peer, anywhere in the world for effectively very low cost. Blockchains allow you to send or receive value, peer to peer, to anyone in the world for very low cost. And so, and so anyway, so the that third category is really really where s x is. It's like blockchain apps. It, it sort of extends beyond those first two categories to actually provide, you know, usable functionality to users within very specific use cases. And for the most part, those apps are either built on generalized computers like Ethereum.

Andrew Young [00:38:41]:

But I think increasingly where the space is gonna go is they're gonna become more and more like what we've done, which is build out their own sort of, their own sort of, app application chain specifically for their use case. And so, yeah. So I think that's kinda like where the space is heading. There's gonna be thousands of thousands and thousands of different on chain, apps that more and more people will interface with. When we first got started in the space, there was a 1,000 daily active users of all on chain apps, total in the world. Now there's a couple million, so it's still very, very small, but just in the last 5 years, it's, you know, 1,000 next. And I think it will continue to, to grow pretty dramatically, over the next kind of 10 to 10 to 20 years, which means all sorts of different use cases, whether it's social media, or defi or sports betting, are gonna be far more transparent, far more user owned, and just, yeah, much more, I guess, trustworthy.

Andrew Pace [00:39:47]:

So, Andrew, I actually have a question spinning off of that that kinda goes back to the sports book. You talk about the transparency. You talk about the blockchain. Have you guys settled wagers incorrectly before, and how does that shake out? Because my understanding would be that that money's gone.

Andrew Young [00:40:02]:

Yeah. Exactly. So, so what's really cool about what we're building is, so to go back to that example, I sort of skipped over it. But when I place a bet with k, the money leaves my wallet, the money leaves Kay's wallet, and goes to the smart contract. Yeah. Someone still has to send the smart contract the results of the game so that it knows it knows who to pay out. So what's really cool with what we built is our validators who secure our network are also in charge of sending the, the correct data to that smart contract. In crypto car loans, it's called Oracle, but you can just think of it as like a data feed.

Andrew Young [00:40:38]:

And so our idea is to essentially, decentralize the data reporting such that, there's no single entity that has control over, like, what games can be reported which way or other. Because in a lot of ways, it's kinda weird that, like, if you're betting against a sports book and then they get to interpret the rules themselves on, like, what wins or what doesn't.

Andrew Pace [00:40:58]:

Right.

Andrew Young [00:40:59]:

And so the only real way to, like, make it fully trustless and transparent is to, sort of do what, you know, Bitcoin or Ethereum did and decentralize that responsibility across multiple different things. So, sorry to answer your question, though, that's that's kinda like what we're working towards. If they but, yes, in the short term, if if something is reported wrong, then we just, like, essentially have to, pay it out of pocket.

Andrew Pace [00:41:22]:

You guys have paid it?

Andrew Young [00:41:24]:

Yeah. Exactly.

Andrew Pace [00:41:24]:

In this case, both sides would have won in theory.

Andrew Young [00:41:28]:

Yeah and that's also part of the why it's so like, in a lot of ways, it's kind of insane to build, like, an on chain sports betting app. Like, it doesn't, you really have to believe in this, like, vision of, transparency and trust because, you have to build the systems to be, like, incredibly robust because there's no, by having to be not custodial, any error, exactly like you said, the money's fully gone. There's no other recourse. Yeah. There's no recourse. So, yeah. I mean, it's just like a it's part of the reason why it's so early in the space because you you really do have to build the whole system from the ground up. I mean, I would love to know if someone could build it not from the ground up.

Andrew Young [00:42:10]:

Please tell me.

Andrew Pace [00:42:11]:

Well they'll just they'll just copy you.

Andrew Young [00:42:13]:

Yeah. Yeah. No. Actually, to be honest with you, what what we wanna do, long term is actually fully open source. We've actually open source a ton of our stuff as well. The only, again, this is kind of like a you sort of have to be in the crypto space to, like, fully get it. It it's very different than, like, a traditional centralized business where, you know, there's like a central operator that, is essentially trying to extract, you know, create value and then extract value. With these decentralized networks, they only really work if people have faith and trust in them.

Andrew Young [00:42:47]:

And so really core to that is to actually open source all the tech. Such that if someone, you know, say us, like the founders, we're like, hey, we wanna, like, we wanna just start, I don't know, do something bad. Like, we wanna we wanna add a 10% fee to every bet. You have the only way that s x can kinda, truly work and function long term is such that the community could actually relaunch a new version of s x overnight. That's called forking in crypto crypto parlance. And, and that is how you essentially, keep the platform safe from any central interference is by effectively having it fully open source. And in a way fully mobile. So that that's how you empower the community to, effectively have control and have ownership over the platform itself.

Andrew Pace [00:43:37]:

Yeah. That's really cool. And I think from, like, the long story short of what my question was, there is kind of another mic drop moment where it's like they you got you guys can't go in and void people's bets. The bets settle as as is, correctly. And if they aren't, there is the recourse of you guys digging out of your wallets to pay for it yourself, which obviously I I haven't had to experience, and I'm sure has been hopefully few and far between for you guys. But, wagers pay, and you don't need to worry about, you know, whether or not you caught a broken line or something like that, and and and if you're gonna actually be compensated for that, which is definitely something that isn't the same, across the industry as well. So another another huge plus.

Andrew Young [00:44:14]:

Yeah. Totally. I mean, yeah. I I never totally understood that either because, like, if you if you do catch if you do bet that and then the the bet loses, like, you don't get recourse on that side. So, like, it is kind of a weird double standard. But I mean, again, it's a different model. So, but, yeah, like, what we're building is very, very different for sure. It's, like I said, it's it's very much community driven.

Andrew Young [00:44:42]:

You actually also earn we didn't even talk about that too, but you actually earn SX tokens just as you bet on the platform. So in a lot of ways we actually have like a negative fee because like you're not paying any commission, but then you're also earning, you know, I think I think it's like roughly like 50 basis points to 1% rebate effectively, as you get on the platform. And that's incredibly important to us because, like, this platform only works if, the community has a stake in it, both to keep, like, essentially like, it only works if the platform is effectively decentralized, and that includes ownership of the platform itself. And, yeah. So that's, like, one of the really cool things. That's actually called that mining, which is something we sort of pioneered in the space. Yeah. It's it's pretty cool.

Shane Mercer [00:45:27]:

It it sounds fascinating. I I gotta ask. I I just wanna make sure that I am understanding exactly how this sort of works and kind of layers in. So you you did a great job at sort of explaining the the sort of three types of of of crypto, and and kind of helping me understand. So it sounds like sX created its own blockchain, and you sort of started with that as a as a foundation. And then what you did is you went and built this app, if we wanna call SXBet an app, on top of the blockchain that you've already created. And so now you have that operating in the space and and sort of yeah. Go ahead.

Andrew Young [00:46:02]:

Sorry to cut you off. So we actually did it in reverse. So we built we built the app, and then we built the which necessitated building the protocol. And then because crypto is so immature, at least from it's becoming rapidly, you know, it's rapidly maturing, but, we also just like saw a huge advantage to if you, if you build a chain, it's almost like a store that owns its own, land. Right. And then, the store doesn't in a way, like it almost becomes like a real estate play, because it can, it can charge, extremely low margins because it's benefiting from the fact that more, more people are coming to the store and that benefits increase the value of the land. That's kinda like one way to sort of think about it. And, and then besides that, I think like, to be honest with you, I think longer term, what will likely happen is, because to be honest with you in the sports betting space only about, like, 10% of users actually care about getting better odds.

Andrew Young [00:47:03]:

If you look at, like, traditionally how betting exchange operate. And so I think long term, s x will actually become more of almost like a development platform where if people wanna launch their own, like, interfaces, they can essentially plug into this, like, liquidity superhighway that's on s x. And, you know, essentially allows them to like spin up their own interface that they want, or they could, they can hedge into it. Because like, again, like to us, like having the best liquidity is I think like we're, we're moving towards a world where there's gonna be like thousands of different on chain, sports betting platforms. Similar to, like, how right now there's thousands of different online betting platforms. But there's probably only gonna be, like, 1 or 2 main, liquidity protocols. And so, like, our goal is really to to win that. That's kind of, like, what we're interested in.

Andrew Young [00:48:01]:

And so, yeah, our whole strategy is, like, I guess, geared towards that.

Shane Mercer [00:48:04]:

Yeah. So I I think you did a good job sort of with the analogy there that that, you know, a restaurant that owns the land, that that it's on. I think McDonald's did it that way.

Andrew Young [00:48:13]:

Yep.

Shane Mercer [00:48:14]:

Yeah. A great great movie there. The founder kinda does a good job explaining that. Alright. Off on a bit of a tangent, but a great analogy. So the idea then really is for, you know, s x network, The the sort of long term play here to, to to make money over the long term is to essentially, offer up the land as a place, and and you'll be charging, you know, you call the gas or I guess it's like a gas tax.

Andrew Young [00:48:38]:

Yeah. It's kind of so, again, it's also interesting to, the way that works too is, like the way Ethereum and all these different blockchains work is, that fee is purely dictated by sort of supply and demand. So there's, Yeah. So essentially, but yeah, to answer your question, I do think like the next wave of blockchains is going to be like application specific blockchains. So it's going to be people that built their, blockchain app on someone else's blockchain, realize that they can they can offer a way better user experience if they build out their own infrastructure themselves. And so I think that's kinda like the wave we're in right now with crypto. And to me, it, like, made a lot of sense because, you know, you can you can essentially offer, much better odds to the user that way, and better liquidity, and, and also become kind of like a development platform of yourself, yourself, which I think is really cool.

Shane Mercer [00:49:35]:

So all all of this, Kaye, I'm gonna bring it back to you because, this is sort of okay. Well, where does SXBet go from here? We we you know, PACE has done a great job espousing the benefits of it and, you know, all all of the sort of great things it offers to us, the sports bettors who are routinely limited on traditional sports betting sites. You know, eventually, you know, we we end up at a spot where it's very difficult to find places where we can get the money and that we want, on on the wagers we want. So, you know, we as sports bettors, really sort of have an interest in seeing this thing grow and and become bigger. But, Kaye, how do you do it? And and what's sort of the the path ahead?

Kay Carson [00:50:15]:

For sure. Well, in terms of our our user base, we're we're continuously looking to grow and and scale that accordingly. So, we we wanna have the biggest community, obviously. But, to to Andrew's point, the tech stacks there, s x offers a really unique ability to be able to scale. You're able to leverage blockchain technology. You know, Andrew mentioned Titan Echo, which could be used for programmatic betting, building a betting bot offering. So I think that the text there, it's gonna continue to get better over time as well. Like, Pace, I know you love SX lab.

Kay Carson [00:51:02]:

Developers were are gonna continue to to build on the chain. We're gonna continue to acquire new users and, yeah, hopefully, take over the sports betting world.

Andrew Young [00:51:11]:

Yeah. For sure.

Andrew Pace [00:51:12]:

If you're, if you're the the main bookmakers right now, you know, there's part of this where you're like, holy shit. Like, look out.

Andrew Young [00:51:20]:

Yeah. Maybe.

Andrew Pace [00:51:21]:

I mean You guys gotta be safe walking down the streets.

Andrew Young [00:51:23]:

Yeah. You know what's interesting, though? I actually I'm like I agree and I disagree because I think, like, if you think of, like, ecommerce, for example, it definitely took out a lot of, like, traditional sort of lower end, lower end operators, but then a lot of platforms end up building out their own, you know, like, there's walmart.com. There's all the different

Andrew Pace [00:51:43]:

They they had to. Yeah. Totally.

Andrew Young [00:51:44]:

Yeah. For sure. So, like, to me, I think one of the really and that's again why I think actually a lot of our growth is gonna become as like a development platform is by like pushing forward this almost, standard for what we think like sports betting should be, and enabling people to integrate it themselves. I think it's like really, really cool. And in some ways it allows us to kind of like work with the with the industry.

Andrew Pace [00:52:05]:

Yeah. From a regulatory level, we've we've had some discussions with, the AGCO, and we've certainly followed a lot of the it really it really takes out the equation of how the operators are allowed to kinda screw people over to a certain extent. You know, voiding one side, not paying out the other and vice versa, and and some of the things that you can see from the books that are just like it's so unbelievably shady. It just can take that completely out of the equation.

Andrew Young [00:52:37]:

Yeah. It's, it's definitely there's a lot of potential. I mean, I think, I think one sorry. One real quick thing. I just want to add also to Kay's Kay's comment. I think, like, for us, there's in a way, there's actually 3 core, customer demos. There's the professional bettors, the crypto native bettors, but then also developers. Like that to us is really like that third key pillar.

Andrew Young [00:53:00]:

And so I think for, and what's really cool is, like, these developers are building things that really appeal to these other 2 groups. And and because it's like totally new things that you never would have been able to do before. You know what I mean? Like, spin up a no code market that you bought. That's really cool. Or there's analytics platforms that, show you incredible amounts of data on both yourself, but then other bettors on the platform, in real time. So I think, like, in a lot of ways, like, as we build up the development platform, it sort of acts as another way to to definitely pull users pull users over. And then finally, I guess one other thing on the on the crypto native front, we did also recently go cross chain. It's probably not as, sort of I don't think your audience would care as much, but essentially, what what's really cool is you can actually now place bets from other blockchains.

Andrew Young [00:53:52]:

So you don't have to actually, like, bridge all your funds onto SX network if you don't want because, you know, SX is like a very, I would say, relatively niche and targeted, you know, ecosystem. So you can actually place bets from, like, other chains like arbitrum. We'll probably eventually launch on, like, Solana, Ethereum, all those different types of things too. So I think we're yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:54:15]:

Especially if you do a tournament each time.

Andrew Young [00:54:18]:

Yeah. Exactly. I've actually we actually we we we're getting grants from these other chains as well to to deploy. And so, and those grants are, again, a 100% going back to to users. Amazing. So, yeah, it's been it's been cool.

Kay Carson [00:54:33]:

Don't worry, Pace. There'll be there'll be plenty of more, plenty of more tournaments for you.

Andrew Pace [00:54:38]:

Yeah. Why don't we why don't we wrap up? K. Why don't you touch on some of the things for, like, the inplayLIVE community that, number 1, we can offer them and and what that could look like?

Kay Carson [00:54:47]:

Yeah. Absolutely. So, we we've got something special, for you guys here at Inplay. We have our our standard welcome offer sign up. If you wanna complete enhanced verification, you get a $20 free bet out of the gate and a $1,000 welcome bonus at a 2% unlock rate. We're we're throwing you guys an extra 500, for in play guys, 22% unlock rate, to really maximize those profits.

Andrew Pace [00:55:14]:

Yeah. That's amazing. So would you just enter a code somewhere? How how does that work?

Kay Carson [00:55:17]:

Yeah. So when you sign up for sxbet, just type in in play as your promo code, and, yeah, we'll we'll ideally have some some other exciting stuff coming down the pipes for you guys.

Shane Mercer [00:55:29]:

That sounds awesome. Well, thank you guys, so much for offering that to us. I think, you know, a lot of our members will really appreciate a bonus like that, pace. I mean, it's so unusual to to to have that kind of usually, when we hear about bonus offers from sportsbooks, it's like, you know, kinda back up against the wall. Alright. Let me get out my glasses so I can read all the fine print on this thing, you know, to make sure I know the rules and, you know, and that my money isn't gonna be locked up in some, you know, shady sports book, you know, offshores. And and I'm gonna actually be able to get my money out of this thing. Yeah.

Andrew Pace [00:56:02]:

I mean, I know you guys have been around for a couple years, but this is the start of something super exciting for us and our members. You know, obviously, you know, no limits, no fees. Don't need to worry about whether or not you're gonna get paid. And then on top of that, a $1500 bonus if you use the code INPLAY. It's just like a total dream. That's 1500 US too, guys. So I know a lot of us are are in Canada. Go ahead, Andrew.

Andrew Young [00:56:22]:

Yeah. And also, it unlocks as you bet. So if you bet essentially, the way it works is you bet a $1,000, you immediately get or I guess when the bet settles, you get a 20 you get $20 of free bets, locked immediately. And when you use the free bets, essentially what it is, it allows you to place a bet that haven't put up your own stake and you get all the profits from any free bet. And those go directly into your wallet. So there's no like, you know, secret 36 x rollover requirement or something to actually, like, withdraw or do whatever.

Andrew Pace [00:56:53]:

And and on the bonus side of things, like, typically speaking, if you accepted a bonus like that, the funds that you actually have in the betting ecosystem, you wouldn't be able to touch, from a withdrawal standpoint because you have to, you know, complete the bonus rollover requirements. In in SX, you can leave, pull all your money out and just leave the bonus sitting there, with no with no negative impact to you whatsoever.

Andrew Young [00:57:18]:

Yeah. I mean, you, like, should have control over funds. Yeah. I don't know if that's what I really

Andrew Pace [00:57:23]:

It's it's these really basic things that don't exist in the industry. So, yeah, guys. This is awesome.

Shane Mercer [00:57:28]:

Yeah. What a novel concept there. Alright. Well, yeah, the this is gone. I'm sure we could just chat your ear off for for, you know, several hours here because I I still got a whole bunch of questions, but we are running out of time. So I'll just, we'll we'll leave it there. For everybody out there in the community, that that bonus code, again, if you wanna sign up, is just simply INPLAY, all lowercase.

Kay Carson [00:57:48]:

Nice and easy.

Shane Mercer [00:57:49]:

There we go. Perfect.

Kay Carson [00:57:50]:

If you mess it up, I'll catch it. Don't worry. Lowercase in play when you sign up. Any issues, any questions, just drop it in the chat. If you're not crypto native or you, you know, have never, operated in that space, just let us know. We're happy to to hop on a call and onboard you if you need, or or we've got a lot of, how to tutorials. So any questions, let us know. We're here for you, so you can get those those better odds and that great bonus.

Shane Mercer [00:58:19]:

No. I I look forward to watching some how to tutorials coming that way. I'll have to watch them a few times.

Andrew Pace [00:58:25]:

I've watched a few myself.

Shane Mercer [00:58:29]:

Kate Carson, head of marketing. Andrew Young, co founder of SXBet and the SX Network. It's been a pleasure having you both on. I've learned a ton. Thanks so much for coming on the show.

Kay Carson [00:58:40]:

Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys.

Shane Mercer [00:58:41]:

Alright. And to everybody out there, millions of sports bettors around the world. Till next week. Keep beating those books. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Behind the Lines. Remember to like, download, and subscribe. We are on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and everywhere you get your podcasts. Have a betting story or wanna be featured on our podcast? Drop a note in the comments below.

Shane Mercer [00:59:00]:

And if you wanna join inplayLIVE, use promo code 'BEHINDTHELINES'.


1. Shane Mercer, 2. Behind the Lines Podcast, 3. Andrew Young, 4. Kay Carson, 5. SX Network, 6. SXBet, 7. Blockchain Technology, 8. Sports Betting Fees, 9. Cryptocurrency, 10. Peer-to-peer Betting, 11. Decentralized Finance (DeFi), 12. Transparency in Betting, 13. Betting Exchange, 14. Smart Contracts, 15. Validators, 16. Open Source Platform, 17. Community Ownership, 18. Odds Improvement, 19. Market Makers, 20. Professional Bettors, 21. Decentralized Sports Betting, 22. Non-Custodial Wallet, 23. InplayLIVE, 24. SX Sportsbook, 25. Live Betting, 26. Promo Code, 27. Betting Analytics, 28. Responsible Gambling, 29. User Experience in Betting, 30. Cross-Chain Betting.