Auger is a decentralized prediction market that is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain that comes with its own REP token. The project was under development since 2015 and when it finally launched earlier this year, it attracted a lot of worldwide news coverage because of the assassination markets that quickly appeared on the dapp. Auger users quickly started wagering on how or when certain politicians and celebrities could die which caused outrage in certain circles as it might incentives individuals to carry out assassinations inorder to win a bet. Auger quickly became the most popular ethereum dApp, boasting over $1.4 million in wagers in hundreds of different markets. The point of running this prediction gambling market on the Ethereum blockchain is that decentralized blockchains are not controlled by any one company so it makes it more difficult for governments to stop their citizens from using the service to gamble. To wager with Auger you need to buy their REP token which caused many to believe the value of the token would skyrocket as the service became more popular and a speculative bubble ensued. Sadly, despite all the early hype and notoriety, Auger hasn't lived up to the hype and it looks destined to become another failed dApp like CryptoKitties. Despite REP having a market cap in excess of $140,000,000, the service now has less than 100 daily users and that number is dropping fast. The price of the REP token has gone from over $40 at launch to just $12.95 today. Let's see how long it can stay above $10 with such little real world usage.
another dud dapp, surprise surprise. if you just use ethereum, bitcoin or litecoin at any crypto gambling website you can get around government restrictions. putting gambling apps on a blockchain is completely pointless.
Why is it pointless, surely the more decentralised the gambling app the better because it will make it harder for a government to shut it down.
I think what he means it that governments never shutdown the websites or servers of sportsbooks, poker rooms or casinos, they simply instructed the financial institutions in their countries to stop doing business with them. It was the money part that needed to be decentralised, now the actual games or software.