{"id":301223,"date":"2023-11-30T16:02:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T22:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=301223"},"modified":"2023-12-01T10:14:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T16:14:33","slug":"polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"DraftKings Received Preferred Treatment on Polygon Network \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October 2021, DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) announced a partnership with the cryptocurrency Polygon to support debuts on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on DraftKings Marketplace.<\/p>\n

\"DraftKings
An image touting the DraftKings\/Polygon relationship. The digital currency allegedly gave the gaming company preferential treatment. (Image: Polygon Blog)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the time of that announcement, Polygon, which is based on the ethereum blockchain, was the number 21 digital currency by market value. Today, it ranks 14th. A new article calls into question the nature of the DraftKings\/Polygon relationship, suggesting the Web3 firm may have given the gaming company<\/a> preferential treatment.<\/p>\n

An article published earlier Thursday by Danny Nelson of CoinDesk<\/a><\/em> indicates Polygon paid DraftKings \u201cmillions of valuable MATIC tokens\u201d to run a Polygon validator network. That arrangement stemmed from a March 2022 announcement in which the Boston-based online sportsbook operator said it\u2019s partnering with Zero Hash to stake digital assets<\/a> it holds in its treasury to support the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain network.<\/p>\n

With this collaboration, DraftKings is optimizing its working capital and liquidity as it operates a validator node that contributes to Polygon\u2019s governance and network security,\u201d<\/strong> according to a statement issued by the sportsbook operator at the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The CoinDesk <\/em>article pointed out that Polygon didn\u2019t disclose that it was compensating DraftKings to run one of its validator networks. Now, the validator isn\u2019t operational, which could be a sign Polygon suffered losses on the arrangement with DraftKings. Neither company commented on the matter to CoinDesk<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On-Chain Data Confirms Relationship<\/h2>\n

In the cryptocurrency space, on-chain data serves as a digital ledger used to identify various transactions made in digital assets.<\/p>\n

\n

Using that data, CoinDesk<\/em> confirmed that starting in October 2021, DraftKings received \u201cmillions of dollars in crypto directly from Polygon,\u201d and then earned millions more through the staking relationship. Few of Polygon\u2019s other network validators enjoyed such preferential treatment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There were benefits for Polygon as well. When the deal with DraftKings was announced in October 2021, the cryptocurrency traded at $1.76. By Dec. 27, 2021<\/a>, it had surged to $2.77. It trades at 76.22 cents at this writing.<\/p>\n

Polygon solves pain points associated with blockchains, like high gas fees and slow speeds, without sacrificing on security. This multichain system is akin to other ones, such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche, etc., according to the token\u2019s developers.<\/p>\n

The asset looks to beat those rivals by fully leveraging ethereum\u2019s network effects, while being more powerful and secure.<\/p>\n

DraftKings \u2018Not Equal\u2019 in Polygon Community<\/h2>\n

An unidentified Polygon executive told CoinDesk <\/em>DraftKings was not an “equal community member,” with blockchain data confirming the gaming company received unusually large compensation to run the now-defunct validator network.<\/p>\n

That arrangement ran contrary to what Sandeep Nailwal, cofounder of Polygon, said in a March 2022 statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDraftKings will take its place among existing validators as an equal community member,\u201d he said in the release.<\/p>\n

\n

However, that statement didn\u2019t make clear that Polygon would be directing millions of tokens to DraftKings. Making matters worse for other Polygon operators was the point that the tokens sent to DraftKings were not staked, meaning that when they hit the network, the rewards accrued by other delegators were reduced, according to CoinDesk<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last month, Polygon booted DraftKings from the validator program, but the two entities maintain an NFT relationship. A DraftKings staffer told CoinDesk<\/em> the company is working to be reinstated as a Polygon validator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2021, DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) announced a partnership with the cryptocurrency Polygon to support debuts on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on DraftKings Marketplace. At the time of that announcement, Polygon, which is based on the ethereum blockchain, was the number 21 digital currency by market value. Today, it ranks 14th. A new article calls into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":204170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24066,10,84511,1074],"tags":[81892,81903,82714,80968],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPolygon Accused Of Giving DraftKings Special Treatment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Polygon may have given DraftKings special treatment that harmed other validators.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Polygon Accused Of Giving DraftKings Special Treatment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Polygon may have given DraftKings special treatment that harmed other validators.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-30T22:02:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-01T16:14:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/polygon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/\",\"name\":\"Polygon Accused Of Giving DraftKings Special Treatment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/polygon.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-30T22:02:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-01T16:14:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Polygon may have given DraftKings special treatment that harmed other validators.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/polygon-accused-of-giving-draftkings-special-treatment\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/polygon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/polygon.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"An image touting the DraftKings\/Polygon relationship. The digital currency allegedly gave the gaming company preferential treatment. 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