{"id":4218,"date":"2025-06-23T10:59:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T13:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=4218"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:08:44","slug":"zoot-eyes-africa-for-stablecoin-powered-igaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/zoot-eyes-africa-for-stablecoin-powered-igaming","title":{"rendered":"Zoot eyes Africa for stablecoin-powered igaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With $6m in fresh funding, former Facebook Game executive Sean Ryan is looking at Africa as its biggest growth opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Uganda.- As <strong>stablecoin<\/strong> adoption accelerates globally, <strong>ZOOT<\/strong>, a rising igaming startup helmed by former Facebook Games executive <strong>Sean Ryan<\/strong>, is zeroing in on Africa as its biggest growth opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the company currently operates in the US market with a focus on <strong>sweepstakes-style gaming<\/strong>, ZOOT is preparing to scale beyond American borders. Its sights are firmly set on markets across Africa, where the combination of mobile-savvy users and a thirst for digital entertainment makes fertile ground for disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alongside Africa, ZOOT has also its sights set on Southeast Asia and Latin America as the next frontiers for stablecoin gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Blockchain gaming with real currency integration represents one of the most compelling opportunities in digital entertainment today,&#8221; said Ryan, CEO and co-founder of ZOOT, in a press statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re bringing video game design principles to igaming to create experiences that are not only entertaining, but also transparent and instantly rewarding. With stablecoins eliminating traditional payment friction, we can serve players globally with zero fees and instant pay-outs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ZOOT recently raised $6m in a seed round led by crypto investment powerhouse <strong>CoinFund<\/strong>, with participation from <strong>Griffin Gaming Partners<\/strong>. The funding will fuel platform development and support international expansion, with a heavy emphasis on stablecoin-backed payments to solve the industry\u2019s biggest headaches, including slow transactions and limited geographic reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company was co-founded by <strong>John Cahill,<\/strong> a veteran of <strong>Sega, Yahoo Games and Shockwave<\/strong>, alongside Ryan, whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes Listen.com and <strong>social casino studio OpenWager<\/strong>, which was acquired by VGW in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile Managing Partner at CoinFund,<strong> David Pakman<\/strong>, is equally optimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are now seeing explosive growth in stablecoin adoption, and real-money gaming is a trillion-dollar market waiting to be transformed by crypto rails,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ZOOT\u2019s upcoming global platform aims to reimagine traditional games like <strong>Plinko<\/strong> through a modern lens, combining flashy visuals with <strong>blockchain<\/strong> efficiency. If their bet pays off, Africa could be where the future of <strong>crypto gaming<\/strong> takes shape.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/Canadian-Lottery-takes-a-new-igaming-slots-service-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/kenyan-singer-bahati-speaks-out-on-betting-ad-ban'>Kenyan singer Bahati speaks out on betting ad ban<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With $6m in fresh funding, former Facebook Game executive Sean Ryan is looking at Africa as its biggest growth opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2396,"featured_media":4226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"ZOOT, an iGaming startup co-founded by former Facebook Games executive Sean Ryan, secured $6 million in seed funding to fuel its global expansion, with a strategic focus on high-growth markets in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The company aims to disrupt traditional iGaming by integrating stablecoin-backed payments and blockchain technology, promising zero fees and instant payouts to address industry friction points. This capital injection, led by CoinFund, will support platform development and international market penetration, leveraging mobile-savvy user bases.","focusai_entities":"ZOOT, Sean Ryan, Facebook Games, CoinFund, Griffin Gaming Partners, John Cahill, Sega, Yahoo Games, Shockwave, Listen.com, OpenWager, VGW, David Pakman","focusai_location":"Africa, Uganda, US, Southeast Asia, Latin America","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.8), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.85), tech_data (0.9), marketing_crm (0.75), payments_fraud_aml (0.95), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Stablecoin Regulatory Hurdles?","query":"What specific regulatory and licensing challenges does ZOOT anticipate in deploying stablecoin-based iGaming operations across diverse African, Southeast Asian, and Latin American jurisdictions, particularly concerning AML and consumer protection frameworks?"},{"label":"Market Penetration Strategy?","query":"Beyond stablecoin integration, what are ZOOT's core market penetration and player acquisition strategies for Africa, given the varied regulatory landscapes and competitive dynamics within the continent's gaming verticals?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60016,60013],"tags":[60111,60327,60326],"class_list":["post-4218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-africa","tag-blockchain","tag-crypto-gaming","tag-stablecoin-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4218"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4235,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions\/4235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}