WSOP Partners With Solana: Players Can Buy in With Crypto

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation. As of June 10, players are now able to buy into WSOP events using the Solana crypto-currency. This marks the first time that the WSOP has allowed tournament buyins to be paid directly via crypto coins.

About Solana

Solana is a blockchain platform founded in 2020 that operates with a proof-of-stake algorithm and was designed to enable smart contract functionality and decentralized apps. Because it’s an entire ecosystem rather than just a digital coin, it has been compared to Ethereum.

The main crypto traded on the Solana network is also called Solana (SOL). However, other cryptos, like USDT and USDC, can be exchanged on the Solana blockchain too. Among the advantages of Solana as compared to other crypto networks are transaction processing times measured in seconds and fees of less than a penny.

Growing from small beginnings, Solana now has a market capitalization of around $39 billion with each Solana token being worth roughly $68.

Solana Advantages for Poker Players

Solana presents quite a few advantages over typical payment methods used by poker players to fund their WSOP endeavors.

Cash is king and is undoubtedly the most versatile of the payment methods accepted at the WSOP. However, many players feel uncomfortable carrying around large sums of cash both because of the inconvenience and possible security issues. Solana is secured by blockchain technology and does not require anyone to carry any physical notes, vouchers, bills, et cetera.

ACH and bank wire transactions eliminate some of this worry about safety, but they tend to take a while to process. Credit card transactions meanwhile are near-instantaneous, but foreign players might be subject to currency exchange fees.

The other payment channels supported by the WSOP are Luxon Pay and PayPal. Luxon Pay is a small e-wallet that charges fees for bank withdrawals while PayPal is known to take a dim view of gambling and poker, and it’s also known for heavy-handed tactics in freezing user funds and suspending accounts with flimsy justifications. Your money is readily available, with very small fees, on the Solana network, and you don’t have to worry about any corporate overlords meddling in your financial affairs.

More About the Partnership

Solana is not just a partner but an official Presenting Sponsor of the 2026 World Series of Poker. Solana has already started live streaming WSOP events on its X account.

As part of the arrangement entered into by the WSOP and Solana, players can use USDC, USDT, or SOL tokens to buy into series tournaments. These transactions are powered by MoonPay Commerce: a Miami-based firm that specializes in deploying crypto-transfer infrastructure. The best part about using the Solana network for WSOP buyins is that there are no payment processing fees charged.

Comments From Stakeholders

Ty Stewart, the chief executive officer of the World Series of Poker, had the following to say about the Solana deal:

We are incredibly proud to bring such an innovative and passionate community into the fold. Solana’s ecosystem, like the WSOP, constantly challenges conventions and remains laser-focused on the consumer experience. Solana’s speed and efficiency mirror the fast-paced energy of our tournaments, and we are excited to showcase their technology to our global audience.

Speaking on behalf of the Solana Foundation, Chief Product Officer Vibhu Norby stated:

Solana is a digital economy where people can own and trade millions of assets, make payments, earn on their money, and more. Trading in particular has been a huge area of growth on Solana over the last few years, generating over $4 trillion in volume. At its core, trading shares many of the same characteristics as poker. We’re incredibly excited to grow the game of poker with the WSOP and bring these two worlds together.

Future Plans

Solana’s deal with the WSOP doesn’t just extend to the summer poker series but will also remain in place going forward. Solana has been named official Presenting Sponsor of the WSOP Paradise festival, which will take place in December at the Baha Mar Resort in Nassau, Bahamas.

At WSOP Paradise, players will not only be able to buy into tournaments with crypto-currency, but they will also be able to receive their winnings the same way. The plan is to enable these payouts through stablecoins on the Solana network.

The Solana Foundation has revealed that it intends to sponsor poker players as brand ambassadors during the WSOP summer series and at WSOP Paradise. Furthermore, there will be “hospitality events” at the Horseshoe and Paris hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, which are the properties that host the WSOP. We can look forward also to “collaborative onchain poker products” in the future.

History of Crypto and Poker

Online poker players have been quick to adopt new technology to improve their results whether that be in the form of tracking software, seating scripts, or multi-tabling tools. It should therefore come as no surprise then that they’ve also been among the most enthusiastic crypto-currency fans.

Particularly in the wake of Black Friday in 2011, U.S. poker players were eager to adopt solutions that made payouts hassle-free and bypassed cumbersome government restrictions. Some dabbled in such payment channels as debit cards and ewallets, but they came with their own set of problems.

Enter Seals With Clubs Poker in August 2011. It was the first online poker platform to transact with bitcoins and became a big hit with crypto-currency fans. It eventually had to close but reopened under the moniker SwCPoker, which is still alive and well today.

Website of Original BTC Poker Room Seals With Clubs c. Sept. 2012

Over the years, other U.S.-facing internet poker sites have added Bitcoin to their roster of payment methods. It’s now a standard transaction processor at almost every offshore poker site that serves Americans. As they have gained experience processing BTC transactions, many of them have added additional coins to their mix, including Solana.

Unfortunately, the live poker community has been slower to adopt crypto-currency. This is changing, though, with Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma announcing in March 2025 that its patrons can now buy into games with crypto. Choctaw Casino has a poker room with five tables.

While Choctaw Casino is a small venue in the world of poker, the WSOP is a major operator. Thus, the new deal with Solana has the potential to kick off a new crypto-currency boom among poker players.

Use Solana for Online Poker

As previously mentioned, there are several online poker rooms that transact in Solana. Perhaps best among them is BetOnline, which does not denominate games in the crypto coin but rather transforms all SOL deposits into dollars for use at the tables and vice versa when it’s time to make a withdrawal.

When you make a deposit at BetOnline, you’ll qualify for a 100% up to $1,000 poker bonus as well as other promotions for casino gaming and sports betting. Press the button below to create a new BOL account:

You can learn more about this operator first by reading this honest BetOnline review. For information about other options for internet poker in the United States, check out this guide to USA offshore poker.

June 13, 2026 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief