Cryptocurrency traders competed for a combined prize pool of $1.27 million at Bybit’s World Series of Trading (WSOT) tournament, which concluded on August 31. The world’s largest cryptocurrency trading event drew massive participation and saw a 100 BTC prize split, mostly between three winning teams.
Bybit’s WSOT Splits $1.27M Between Prize Winners
The tournament attracted 12,368 participants grouped into 135 separate teams, with the winning team, South-Korean based W.T.C, taking home a 35 BTC first prize. One individual from the winning team, ‘junki84,’ racked up personal gains of 5,242% during the 20-day trading marathon. The same trader topped the leaderboard in the USDT Solo Throwdown, recording gains of 4,972%, and taking home the first prize of 90,000 USDT in the process.
The traders who took second place in the event recorded gains of 3,956%. Third place was taken by a team captained by 7th ranked global poker star, Mike McDonald.
The tournament was hosted on the Bybit trading platform, where participants were granted trading fee discounts, bonuses, and numerous other perks, in addition to the final prize money. Ben Zhou, co-founder, and CEO of Bybit celebrated the successful conclusion of the event and suggested the tournament will return on an even grander scale next year.
“We are honored to bring the exhilaration of competitive trading to the crypto community with WSOT, and grateful for the incredible enthusiasm and support the competition received. WSOT will return even bigger and better in the next edition.”
UNICEF Donation to Aid Covid-19 Relief
The event was also marked by a collaboration between Bybit and UNICEF, which saw Bybit donate the cryptocurrency equivalent of $100,000 towards the aid foundation’s efforts in helping children affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is an exciting opportunity to partner with Bybit and better shape the lives of children significantly impacted by Covid-19. We thank Bybit and traders for their generous Bitcoin donations during this unprecedented global emergency,” said UNICEF NZ Executive Director Vivien Maidaborn.
Defi Rises in Tandem
Trading gains at the WSOT competition, which took place from Aug 10-30, were matched by gains made in the broader cryptocurrency market – specifically its decentralized finance (defi) sector. During the event, the value of defi sensation yearn.finance (YFI) exploded to the tune of 567%, climbing from a price of $5,747 to $38,386.
The explosion in the defi market has resulted in over $8 billion being locked in to various defi protocols at time of writing. The sudden influx is being felt on the Ethereum-based decentralized exchange Uniswap, which recently recorded more trading volume than its centralized counterpart Coinbase.
However, the runaway success of Uniswap, and imitators like SushiSwap, are already having a noticeable effect on the Ethereum blockchain. Transaction fees recently returned to an all-time high, as demand for block space on Ethereum approaches a premium.