The 57th WSOP is underway in Las Vegas through July 15, and this year players can pay their tournament entry fees in Solana with no processing fees. Stablecoin payouts are coming, but not until December.
- The 2026 World Series of Poker runs May 26 to July 15 at Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, with 100 bracelet events and the $10,000 Main Event starting July 2
- For the first time in its 57-year history, the WSOP is letting players buy into tournaments with cryptocurrency, accepting Solana through MoonPay with no processing fees
- Stablecoin payouts are not live in Las Vegas yet, they debut in December at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, where winners can choose to take their prize money in stablecoins on Solana
- The Main Event final table is being delayed three weeks this year, returning August 3 to 5 for a prime-time ESPN broadcast
- US players can still qualify online through WSOP Online satellites, but only in Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan
Poker’s biggest event is in full swing in Las Vegas, and the 2026 edition arrived with a first that has nothing to do with the cards. For the first time in the series’ 57-year history, players can buy into a World Series of Poker tournament with cryptocurrency.
Crypto Comes to the Felt
On June 10, the World Series of Poker announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Solana Foundation, naming it the presenting sponsor of both the 2026 series in Las Vegas and WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas this December. The headline feature went live immediately. Players at Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas can now pay tournament entry fees with Solana, processed through the crypto-payments firm MoonPay, with no processing fees. It is the first time in WSOP history that anyone has been able to buy into an event directly with crypto. Because the buy-in is charged at the exact dollar amount, players sidestep the surcharges that usually come with moving large sums by card. The same move toward crypto deposits has been spreading across regulated online casinos, but a stage as big as the WSOP putting it at the cage is a milestone.
What Crypto Can and Cannot Do Yet
One distinction matters here, because it is easy to get wrong. The crypto option in Las Vegas is for buy-ins only. Getting paid in crypto is a separate, later rollout. At WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas in December, tournament winners will be able to choose to receive their prize money in stablecoins on Solana, settling almost instantly. That second piece is aimed squarely at the game’s international grinders, who have long dealt with wire-transfer delays and currency-conversion costs when collecting six- and seven-figure scores abroad. For now, though, a player who cashes in Las Vegas still gets paid the traditional way.
Why Solana, and Why Poker
The pitch from both sides leans on a cultural overlap. Solana Foundation product chief Vibhu Norby argued that trading and poker reward the same instincts: hard decisions, incomplete information, and managing a bankroll. MoonPay’s commerce president, Jim Walker, called crypto “a natural fit” for a player base that has experimented with digital currency for years. The technical case is speed and cost, with Solana transactions typically settling in seconds for a fraction of a cent. The WSOP and Solana also say they are building on-chain poker products together, though they have not said what those will be.
The World Series of Poker 2026 at a Glance
The crypto deal is riding on top of a familiar machine. The 57th annual World Series of Poker runs May 26 through July 15 at Paris and Horseshoe in Nevada, with 100 live bracelet events and another 30 online. Buy-ins stretch from $300 for the entry-level Gladiators of Poker event to $250,000 for the Super High Roller, with the $10,000 Main Event still the one every player wants. Last year’s Main Event drew 9,735 entries and paid Michael Mizrachi $10 million for the win.
The Main Event and the Return of the Delay
This year’s Main Event begins July 2 and plays down to a final table on July 13, but the finish carries a twist. For the first time in years, the final table is being held back, returning August 3 to 5 for a prime-time ESPN broadcast under a new multi-year deal that brings at least six hours of daily coverage and carries the event to more than 130 countries. Longtime fans will recognize the move as a throwback to the “November Nine” era, when a months-long delay built suspense and television ratings. The bet is that a three-week pause is long enough to build hype without killing the momentum.
How to Qualify Online, If Your State Allows It
For players who do not want to pay full freight, the cheaper route is an online satellite, and that is where US geography bites. WSOP Online satellites that award Main Event seats are legal only in Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, the four states where the operator holds the right licenses. Everywhere else in the country the online path is closed, leaving travel-and-buy-in or international platforms like GGPoker as the alternatives. Players also need the WSOP LIVE app, which is mandatory for registration and identity verification. The short version is that in online poker, the state you live in still determines almost everything about how you can play.
What It Signals
Strip away the felt and this is a story about crypto trying to graduate from speculation to spending. Stablecoins and blockchain payments have spent years promising real-world utility, and a tournament series that moves hundreds of millions of dollars in entries and prizes is one of the most visible tests yet of whether that promise holds up. The tell will be adoption, not announcements. If players actually choose to buy in with Solana this summer, and if the December payout experiment in the Bahamas runs clean, the WSOP will have done more for the everyday use of crypto than most of the industry’s marketing. If they do not, it will have been an expensive logo on a poker table.