In a historical move, the World Series of Poker has partnered with the Solana Foundation, announcing a new age of crypto payments for the players participating in the world’s largest live poker festival.

Starting today, players will have the ability to buy into WSOP tournaments using Solana, a public Blockchain platform offering high transaction speeds and extremely low fees. Crypto payments will be facilitated by MoonPay’s payment infrastructure.

According to the WSOP press release, this is only the beginning of the partnership. Starting with the 2026 WSOP Paradise series in the Bahamas, players will also have the option to receive their prize money in stablecoins, making the payment process much faster and simpler compared to traditional methods.

The World Series started giving clues about the partnership a few days back, posting somewhat cryptic messages on its social media channels. The proverbial cat is now out of the bag, and the Solana Foundation will also act as the Presenting Sponsor of the 2026 WSOP and the 2026 WSOP Paradise series.

Keeping Up With the Times

It is no secret that poker players are very involved with the crypto world, so the partnership between the poker’s largest stage and a trusted Blockchain platform seems like a rather natural step that will be welcomed by the community.

The newly introduced payment option should allow for greater accessibility for international players, faster payment settlements, and expanded flexibility.

In the PR announcing the new partnership, Ty Stewart, Chief Executive Officer at WSOP, stated the following:

“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.”

The partnership also comes in as a natural fit for Solana, a platform whose business largely revolves around trading shares, an activity that shares many similarities with poker. In the words of Vibhu Norby, Solana’s Chief Product Officer:

“At its core, trading shares many of the same characteristics as poker: hard decisions, incomplete information, minding your bankroll. We’re incredibly excited to grow the game of poker with the WSOP and bring these two worlds together.”

As mentioned, MoonPay will act as an intermediary between the WSOP and Solana. The payment platform allows users to bridge the gap between traditional banking and cryptocurrency, and it should help create a more user-friendly environment for players wanting to use this option.

In the weeks to come, the Solana Foundation will be sponsoring a number of poker players to act as ambassadors for the new solution during the summer series, combining these with hospitality events in Las Vegas and the Bahamas to raise awareness.

Asking the Tough Questions

The World Series of Poker catching up with the times and adding crypto to its repertoire of payment options is certainly exciting. There is no doubt that many players will welcome this alternative with open arms, and it should, in theory, make international money transfers much easier.

However, over the course of the summer, we’ve already seen a number of players experience problems when trying to use cash to buy into tournaments, and a high-profile player was removed from a cash game stream due to compliance reasons (source of funds verifications).

While crypto is great in many aspects, it is certainly not easy to track, which begs the question of how all of this will work in practice.

Will the players have to go through complicated and demanding loops and hoops to demonstrate the origin of their cryptocurrency, in which case, the whole concept will lose most of its appeal? Or was the system designed in a way where any such issues are resolved ahead of time, and players can proceed to use crypto with confidence, knowing that they won’t be denied at the very last step?

Plus, with different countries worldwide having very different approaches and legal frameworks regarding cryptocurrency, will the WSOP compliance team be able to keep up?

We expect to get answers to some of these questions in the coming days. In theory, this is great news, but let’s wait and see how things play out in real life.