Some of us may have played this popular real-time strategy game call StarCraft. In fact, it was so popular that the next iteration StarCraft II created a huge following of fans. Inadvertently, competitions abound and a few of them had given out Bitcoin as prizes.
Unfortunately, back in 2011 when Bitcoin was worth less than a US$50, the Bitcoin prize pool was given away as consolation prizes. In a 2011 StarCraft II competition held by LRMGame under the moniker “Team AoV’s ICCCup Starleague”, the prize tiers were
First – $500
Second: $250
Third: $150
Fourth: $100
Fifth to Eighth: 25 Bitcoins
If you had came in between the fifth to eight placed contenders, not only would you leave the competition arena with a bruised ego, but wondering what you can do with those “useless” Bitcoin awarded to you.
But, if any of those “losers” can kept their Bitcoin till now, these same players would be sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin each.
In 2013, Blizzard organized a Bitcoin StarCraft Challenge with a 14 Bitcoin prize pool. The winner won 11.2 BTC and the runner-up won 2.8 BTC.
We may soon see esports given more of cryptocurrencies as prizes. Afterall, games and cryptocurrencies sit right within the sphere of digital gratifications.