The parallel rise of cryptocurrency and the iGaming industry has naturally seen them integrate in recent years. iGaming revolutionized the gambling world by making gambling, sports betting, and casino games accessible to players from the comfort of their own homes. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency has similarly revolutionized the financial world.
Bitcoin was, of course, the first cryptocurrency to launch and the one that started that entire revolution. Its massive gains over the years have turned ordinary people into millionaires overnight and sparked a digital gold rush. Still the most valuable cryptocurrency by far, its use has expanded rapidly.
Its use in online gambling is most obvious in the way it helps facilitate fast payout online casinos that provide a safer, faster, and more secure payment method for iGamers. However, it has many other advantages when used in the context of online casinos.
Popularity and Access
The advantage of being the first and most valuable cryptocurrency is that Bitcoin has the furthest reach. While its success has led to a crypto frenzy that led to over 20,000 new cryptocurrencies entering the market since, for many institutional investors, retailers, and ordinary traders, it remains the cryptocurrency of choice.
Its expansion also usually places it at the forefront of innovations and applications. Bitcoin is now more widely accepted than ever. Everything from online stores to physical stores utilize it as a payment method. Its growth means it can now even be used to purchase high-value assets like vehicles and even a house under the right conditions.
In an iGaming sense, Bitcoin trounces other cryptocurrencies in terms of its usage and popularity as the most widely accepted at online casinos.
Safety and Anonymity
Bitcoin operates based on blockchain technology. Essentially a digital ledger, the blockchain provides a secure and mostly anonymous way to record and authenticate all Bitcoin transactions. What that represents for iGamers is a safer and more secure payment method that is practically immutable, meaning that Bitcoin transactions are generally safer from hacking and can’t easily be altered or tampered with in any way,
Given how susceptible ordinary digital banking and even e-wallets are to risks like fraud, hacking, and identity theft, Bitcoin’s secure nature makes it an ideal choice for use as a payment and payout method for online gambling.
As a perk, online gamblers can remain relatively anonymous, providing greater privacy for those who want or require it—not having to share sensitive information like their name, address, social security numbers, or bank details, vastly decreasing a player’s exposure to cyber threats.
It Has a Decentralized Nature
The fact that Bitcoin, unlike fiat money, is decentralized places it beyond the realm of ordinary economic risks that otherwise plague traditional currencies. Things like inflation don’t apply to it since there is a limited amount of it available, meaning it can’t be created or put into circulation excessively according to the whims or ill-advised policies of some central authority.
That also makes it harder to regulate. While most nations are working towards more regulation, it remains mostly unregulated and even immune to tax in certain regions and circumstances.
It is Cheaper
The fact that Bitcoin isn’t controlled by central authorities or commercial or privately owned banks generally makes it cheaper to transact with. The absence of bank fees being levied periodically or per transaction means it makes for a better payment method than credit cards and EFTS.
However, that’s not to say that it’s free. While Bitcoin’s popularity usually means it’s available across all major crypto wallet services, like any other commercial entity, these crypto wallet companies have to make a profit to remain operable, so some fees and commissions may apply to use Bitcoin for online gambling.
However, these are usually far cheaper and more efficient than ordinary digital banking methods. As a bonus, since blockchain transactions are safer, more secure, and internally authenticated, they’re usually instantaneous, which makes for faster transactions than traditional payment methods and even most rival cryptocurrencies.
Conclusion
Bitcoin remains the most popular and successful cryptocurrency. As a result, it’s grown to have the widest reach and application as a payment and payout method. Its decentralized nature and the fact that it runs on immutable blockchain technology confers safety, relative anonymity, and security as advantages.
