CS:GO ban wave results in £1.5 million worth of in-game items being made worthless
The traders may have been banned due to a potential cryptocurrency scandal.
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Around 40 CS:GO trader accounts have been banned by Valve, which has essentially removed £1.5 million worth of in-game items from the game entirely.
As reported by Dexerto, last month gambling site CSGOEmpire shared a document containing a list of CS:GO traders it claimed were illegally laundering millions in dollars worth of crypto through rival site CSGORoll. Now, all but one of the traders listed in the document have been banned, meaning that about £1.5 million of in-game skins will no longer be available for purchase, potentially meaning they're removed from the game's economy for good.
The owner of CSGORoll denied all the accusations in a lengthy Twitter post, writing, "I own a gamified skins trading platform, by law, this is not classified as a casino in our largest markets because we do not offer cash withdrawals. Contracted skins suppliers are not allowed to play games on the platform, thus we can legally pay them crypto for their skins to always ensure that we have a liquid marketplace. This was all checked by lawyers years ago, and we keep ourselves up to date on modern regulations to always make sure that we are compliant with the law."
Valve hasn't shared an official comment on the matter, though obviously it does look like the bans and the accusations could be linked. As noted by Jake Lucky on Twitter, a number of players are now selling their in-game assets, obviously in a panicked response out of concern for also being banned.
It isn't clear how Valve will move forward with the situation, but we do know that it won't be the last time we hear about the series this summer. Counter-Strike 2 was revealed earlier this year, and is due for a full release this summer, though a formal release date hasn't been confirmed as of yet.