Picture the scene: state gaming regulators gather at the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States conference to discuss the future of payments in gambling. The Special Committee on Payments has a problem. Credit cards are being banned from online wagering platforms. Major operators are voluntarily stopping card acceptance. State legislators are proposing outright prohibitions.
So what comes next? The answer sitting in front of these regulators is cryptocurrency. Specifically, stablecoins.
The Credit Card Exit Creates A Vacuum
The gambling industry faces an immediate crisis. Credit card companies and legislators have decided that letting people fund gambling accounts with borrowed money creates too much risk. Fair enough. But the alternatives within traditional finance are limited and inadequate.
Wire transfers take days. ACH payments aren’t much faster. Both require business hours, which is a problem for an industry that operates 24/7. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: when regulated operators restrict payment options, illegal gambling operations just absorb the market share. They’re already using cryptocurrency. They don’t care about credit card bans.
The committee description is telling. They want to explore “how payment modernization can enhance consumer protection” and “help the regulated market compete against unregulated operators who are already embracing new technologies.” Translation: we’re losing to criminals who have better infrastructure.
Traditional Finance’s 60-Year-Old Problem
Paul Howard from cryptocurrency liquidity provider Wincent summarizes the fundamental issue:
the network and methodology for most fiat transactions hasn’t materially changed in 60 years. We spent decades weaning ourselves off checks, which took days or weeks to clear. During settlement, payees and payers had zero visibility on where funds actually were or which intermediaries were earning interest on the float.
The numbers are more damning than most people realize. Banking hours constitute only 23 percent of all hours, according to analysis from Nic Carter. The traditional financial system is available less than a quarter of the time. For gambling platforms that need to process deposits and withdrawals at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, this is a significant limitation.
Stablecoins complete transactions in seconds, operate 24/7/365, cost a fraction of traditional rails, and provide transparency. When crypto gambling platforms started using stablecoins, they could operate globally from day one. Out of need, they immediately leapfrogged correspondent banks, settlement delays and blackout windows.
ZeroHash Bets On The Not-So Outcasts
ZeroHash, the crypto infrastructure company that just achieved unicorn status, is making a calculated bet. They’re not just powering Interactive Brokers and Public.com’s crypto expansion. They’re also attending gaming conferences and positioning themselves at the intersection of traditional finance and the sectors that traditional finance discriminates against.
Interactive Brokers recently launched instant account funding via stablecoins through ZeroHash. This isn’t serving unbanked populations in developing countries. These are sophisticated US investors who are choosing stablecoin deposits because waiting days for wire transfers feels absurd in 2025.
The market opportunity is enormous according to Paul Howard. FXCIntelligence estimates 200 trillion dollars in potential cross-border remittances worldwide in 2024. Currently, only 0.5 to 0.7 percent of these flow through stablecoins.
Why Gambling Leads Payment Innovation
Gambling adopts payment innovations first because the problems are most acute here. Banking discrimination forces alternatives. Credit card restrictions accelerate the transition. A global user base needs borderless payments that work regardless of local banking infrastructure.
The pattern repeats across “naughty” finance sectors. Prediction markets face similar challenges. Brokerages dealing with high-frequency trading need instant settlement. Any business operating 24/7 with a global customer base encounters the same infrastructure limitations.
The NCLGS committee is explicitly acknowledging this. They’re exploring how payment modernization can help regulated operators compete. When state gaming regulators are discussing cryptocurrency as a competitive necessity rather than a threat, something fundamental has shifted.
The Emerging Markets Myth Gets Challenged
The dominant narrative positions stablecoins as primarily useful in developing countries with unstable currencies or limited banking access. That’s partially true but incomplete. Nic Carter’s challenge to this framing matters: developed market adoption is happening, driven not by crisis but by superior product characteristics.
Interactive Brokers isn’t serving Venezuelan inflation refugees. Public.com isn’t targeting the unbanked. These platforms serve users who have full access to traditional finance and are choosing stablecoins anyway. The reason is simple: instant settlement beats waiting days, and 24/7 availability beats banking hours.
The gambling sector demonstrates this clearly. Yes, stablecoins work well in emerging markets where capital controls restrict traditional gambling payments. But the technology is equally compelling in developed markets where credit card restrictions and banking discrimination create artificial barriers.
What Regulators Are Actually Considering
The NCLGS Special Committee on Payments includes serious people, not twitter crypto evangelists. They’re pragmatists facing a practical problem. Their framing is revealing. They want to explore “the role that cryptocurrencies will play in iGaming’s future” while ensuring “transparency” and helping “the regulated market compete.” This isn’t ideological.
ZeroHash brings legitimacy to these conversations. The company maintains 50-state licensing including New York’s BitLicense. Eight years of operation with zero enforcement actions. Backing from Morgan Stanley, Apollo Global Management, and Interactive Brokers.
The Undertold Infrastructure Story
The narrative everyone focuses on: bitcoin price movements, regulatory crackdowns, speculative mania. The narrative almost nobody covers: stablecoins solving real payment infrastructure problems for industries that traditional finance increasingly feels unwilling to serve.
When credit card companies exit gambling and brokerages face banking restrictions, someone has to fill the vacuum. Stablecoins are filling it because they’re technically superior for these use cases. Instant settlement. Global accessibility. Lower costs. Transparency.
The “naughty” finance sectors adopt first not because they’re risky or marginal, but because the payment problems are most acute. Traditional finance’s 60-year-old infrastructure breaks most visibly where 24/7 operation and instant settlement are requirements rather than nice-to-haves.
Gaming regulators discussing cryptocurrency payments is key evidence of crypto going mainstream.
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