Bitcoin Betting Site Thunderpick Reveals $1 Million 'Counter-Strike 2' Competition

Following last year’s $600,000 Bitcoin prize pool, Thunderpick is nearly doubling the pot for this year’s Counter-Strike 2 competition.

2 min read

Feb 13, 2024

Thunderpick, a cryptocurrency-centric esports and traditional sports betting platform, announced on Tuesday the launch of the Thunderpick World Championship 2024, a global Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) tournament with a sizable $1 million prize pool.

Last year, Thunderpick held a Counter-Strike 2 tournament with $600,000 up for grabs, which was paid out in Bitcoin. FaZe Clan, a popular esports team organization that is now sponsored by crypto casino Rollbit, won Thunderpick’s 2023 championship tournament.

Thunderpick’s 2024 tournament will commence on April 1, with finals taking place in late October. According to a representative, this year’s event will pay out prizes in fiat currency, although Thunderpick’s online esports betting platform is still entirely operated via cryptocurrency. The platform accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and several other coins.

According to the announcement, the tournament will host six qualifier rounds across Europe, North America, and South America. Along with announcing the event, Thunderpick has renewed its deal with GRID as the tournament's official esports services provider and data partner.

Counter-Strike 2 is Valve’s recent sequel to the long-running Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), a squad-based first-person shooter for PC that has proven to be one of the most reliably popular esports games around.

Bitcoin gaming startup Zebedee also previously launched modified CS:GO servers that would let players wager and win BTC while competing.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.

Get crypto news straight to your inbox--

sign up for the Decrypt Daily below. (It’s free).

Get Email!

Solana Hits All-Time High Price Two Years After FTX Nearly Sent It to Zero

After three long years, Solana (SOL) has finally broken its all-time high price record, setting a new milestone above $260 on Thursday. Solana rose above the previous $260 record mark early Thursday afternoon, per data from Coinbase, continuing the asset's recent hot streak following the U.S. presidential election win of crypto candidate Donald Trump earlier this month. The jump also came following word that Gary Gensler, the SEC Chairman who led the regulator's crypto industry crackdown, will r...

MicroStrategy Stock Sinks 16% As Bitcoin Nears $100K—Is It Too Hot to Handle?

MicroStrategy shares fell 16% to $397.28 Thursday, following statements from influential investment firm Citron Research that it placed a short position against the company while maintaining a long position in Bitcoin. The disclosure reveals mounting concerns about the company’s stock being overvalued due to what some perceive as an overly excessive company valuation. Citron Research claimed Bitcoin investing has been "easier than ever," citing ETFs and stocks available on trading platforms Coin...

Everything You Need to Know About the ‘MemeFi’ Telegram Game Airdrop

Telegram tap-to-earn game MemeFi is preparing for its token launch, after the fighting game attracted millions of players vying for a chunk of its future airdrop. On Friday, November 22 at 8am ET (1pm UTC), the MEMEFI token is set to launch on the Sui network. This comes after the project hopped to the network from Ethereum layer-2 Linea last month. The promised airdrop claim will take place once the token is generated. Airdrop token allocations were revealed last Saturday, with 2.5 million susp...