Prediction markets and futures have long been of interest to investors with a high tolerance for risk. Similarly, online betting has taken off for people who like upside-potential and don't mind gambling funds on uncertain outcomes. The trouble is, online betting isn't always what we'd hope it would be.

Barriers to entry are often prohibitive and centralized prediction markets tend to be open to gaming or corruption by bad actors. The advent of decentralized, blockchain driven prediction markets like Augur promised to be different but came with a new set of unintended consequences. Death pools and other morbid predictions quickly drew the wrong kind of attention to the platform.

In this interview, I talk with Christian Lenz, Founder of BX.bet, a decentralized prediction market claiming to resolve some of the issues plaguing Augur's launch. We discuss why decentralization matters in this space, and how to implement decentralized betting networks while preserving fairness and preventing untoward bets. The good news is, it's possible to strike a balance between decentralization, and community input.

While we don't dive into specific betting or investment recommendations, if you're interested in futures, prediction markets, or any kind of online bet-making, definitely give this episode a listen.