For many years, if you’ve wanted to gamble online you’ve had to use a traditional currency, such as the euro, the dollar or the pound sterling. In early 2009, the world of money was shaken up with the introduction of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.
This is a special type of currency that’s entirely digital and isn’t linked to any central bank or financial institution. Even though it’s not regulated by any government, it promises a safer, more secure service thanks to its use of cryptography.
Since Bitcoin’s release, loads more cryptocurrencies have launched, such as Litecoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and Stellar. Many people enjoy gambling online with cryptocurrencies because of the advantages they offer over traditional currencies. These include anonymity, the lack of taxation, the fast transactions, the ability to use cryptocurrencies globally and the fact that the games are provably fair — in other words, anyone can check to see the games are fair and not biased in any way.
So what should you know about cryptocurrency and gambling? Read on to learn more.
Risks
While there are some clear advantages to using cryptocurrencies for online gambling, there are some risks. The biggest one is the value of your money. Bitcoin especially is highly volatile because there’s a huge demand for it, yet there’s only a limited number of Bitcoins that can be made available.
The value of a single Bitcoin can vary greatly from one day to the next. You never know when it’s going to suddenly increase or decrease in value. Other cryptocurrencies can be just as unpredictable as Bitcoin.
There’s also the fact that cryptocurrencies aren’t government-regulated. While this does give players more privacy, it also means there’s more of a chance for illegal activity to take place, as cryptocurrency transactions are unable to be traced.
In the future, there’s a chance governments will introduce regulations on cryptocurrencies. While this hasn’t started happening yet, it is fairly likely. After all, governments will no doubt want to ensure these digital, decentralised currencies are safe for users and will want to try to earn revenue from them by taxing them in some way.
For now, cryptocurrencies aren’t regulated, though if governments start introducing laws and restrictions, the experience of using these currencies online may become different and less convenient.
Using cryptocurrencies isn’t as straightforward as using fiat currencies. If you’re going to start using this type of currency, you’ll have to acquire a secure wallet (a piece of software or even hardware to store your money) and learn how to go about handling transactions.
So long as you have a basic understanding of how cryptocurrencies work, you should get used to using them sooner rather than later. It’s important you know what you’re doing and you’re aware of how volatile cryptocurrencies can be before you start using them.
Of all the dozens of cryptocurrencies in use, it’s Bitcoin that you’ll find most widely accepted at online casinos. This is mainly because Bitcoin is the most popular of them all. Others such as the previously mentioned Ethereum and Litecoin are also accepted at a lot of online casinos, as is Bitcoin Cash.
Bitcoin is accepted at most casinos that let you gamble with cryptocurrencies. Other cryptocurrencies, however, aren’t so widely accepted; if you’re intending to gamble with one of these, you may have to stick with a crypto casino.
If you want to play specific games, you may find that a casino that accepts your preferred cryptocurrency doesn’t necessarily offer all the games you’re after. You may have to sign up for more than one casino if you’re looking to regularly play a broad selection of games.