Singaporean crypto derivatives exchange Bybit has announced that it will soon launch a bi-annual trading competition with a 200 BTC ($1.8 million) prize pool. Dubbed the “World Series of Trading” or WSOT, the contest lays claim to being the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading competition. The inaugural event will take place in August.
Bybit is building on the success of its previous trading competitions as part of its Bybit Games calendar. The last major tournament was 2019’s BTC Brawl, a multinational trading contest that saw over 7,000 crypto derivatives battle it out for a prize pool of 100 BTC. The new WSOT event aims to attract traders from even more locations to compete for a share of the larger 200 BTC prize pool.
A Fair Chance for All
To ensure a level playing field for all, the WSOT ranking is based on the percentage of profit or loss that a trader posts. Therefore, the volume or value of trading doesn’t matter, meaning that even low-value traders stand a chance of winning. Bybit is expecting that some of the biggest names in crypto trading, along with several big-name poker stars, will participate in the WSOT.
In a press release accompanying the announcement. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou is quoted as saying:
“This revolutionary event aims to champion the spirit of competition and fair play, and cultivate camaraderie between crypto derivatives traders from all over the world to create positive changes in the crypto space.”
If the attraction of winning a share of 200 BTC wasn’t enough, participation in the WSOT also offers other benefits to Bybit users. Contestants are eligible for a 20% discount in trading fees, along with up to $9,400 worth of bonuses in USDT.
Traders can pre-register for the WSOT any time between now and July 30. The event itself will run from August 14 to August 31.
The Growing Popularity of Exchange Incentives
Although it’s relatively uncommon to see a prize pool to the scale of 200 BTC, exchange incentives and giveaways are now almost the norm. Bybit also offers several different types of rewards for newcomers, including a coupon worth up $50 for the first deposit.
Singaporean-based rival Phemex has recently launched a novel giveaway aimed at promoting the fledgling exchange on YouTube. Participants are required to create a video about Phemex that could be a general walkthrough to a tutorial on how to use a particular service.
Phemex will allocate prizes according to a 50/50 weighting system. 50% of the score will be decided by a judging panel appointed by the company, and the other 50% will be determined based on overall engagement, including likes, comments, and retweets.
The contest will also operate a dynamic prize pool, so the more submissions received in the competition, the bigger the prize pool. The total prizes allocated will be subject to a maximum cap of one BTC or $10,000 depending on which is more valuable at the time.
These kinds of contests and giveaways are proving to be extremely popular with the cryptocurrency community. Last week, the Crypto.com exchange celebrated its fourth birthday with a BTC sale offering a 50% discount. It was launched as part of the company’s “The Syndicate” platform, a series of discounted token sale events with incentives for those who stake its native CRO token.
The BTC sale attracted over 140 million CRO staked, selling just short of 219 BTC by the time the event closed.