Bitcoin is an on-line, digital currency, often referred to as a “crypto-currency” or “virtual currency.” Bitcoin’s software is an open-source system that works without a central repository. Instead, it is an entirely peer-to-peer, or user-to-user system. More and more companies are accepting bitcoins as payment and the gambling industry is one of the fastest growing industries in terms of Bitcoin growth. As the popularity of Bitcoin grows, more and more online casinos are accepting bitcoins as a payment option to fund user accounts.
The explosion in Bitcoin casinos has come with growing acceptance of Bitcoin as a viable currency. More and more shops and service providers accept bitcoins as payment. People are starting to make major purchases with bitcoins. It is extremely impressive how far Bitcoin has come in the past two years and how much inroads it has made. In fact, nowadays, some governments even keep some of their reserves in Bitcoin.
Anonymity is a key advantage to using Bitcoin as a form of payment. Although transactions are stored publicly, the identity of the parties to the transaction remain secret, so this is one of the main reasons that users of on-line casinos prefer Bitcoin to traditional currencies. In addition, there are practically no transaction costs. This is a major advantage, as players wishing to fund their account or withdraw their earnings to USD or EURO often end up paying fees as high as 3-5%. Rather than withdraw your winnings, you can simple use your bitcoins and shops that accept the currency, thus remaining completely anonymous.
In order to use bitcoins at an on-line casino, it is probably a good idea to get a Bitcoin wallet. If you already have the regular Bitcoin desktop client, then you already have a simple wallet. This is because Bitcoin Core creates and stores your addresses for sending and receiving bitcoins, which is the basic feature of a wallet. There are other types of wallets you can get, including mobile, web-based, hardware, and even paper-based (which uses QR codes for public address and private key).
Bitcoin has been around since 2008, and it shows no signs of slowing down. More and more Bitcoin casinos are popping up, and the convenience and anonymity of Bitcoin makes it an easy choice for on-line gamers. In fact, according to iGaming Business, Bitcasino, the largest licensed Bitcoin-casino in the world showed $1,370% growth in its second year of operations. The year 2015 was a watershed moment in the acceptance of Bitcoin in on-line casinos, and the summer of 2016 promises even faster growth.
The total number of Bitcoins is capped at 21 million, and the algorithm that governs the creation of new Bitcoin ensures that additional bitcoins are added to the supply gradually. Any users who break the rules will simply have worthless bitcoins that will not be accepted by the network. This summer, there has been a spike in Bitcoin value. The currency rose from $450 to a high of $750, and exchange rate is currently at $571 USD to 1 BTC.
This year, many casinos have begun accepting Bitcoin as payment, including Bitcasino, which supports only Bitcoin. Other casinos have sprung up that support Bitcoin as well as other crypto-currencies, such as Litecoin, Dogecoin, Clam, and Peercoin. These casinos run the gamut from those that offer only basic table and slots games to those that offer a full casinos, complete with sportsbook services. Many also offer the option of funding user accounts with a variety of traditional currencies as well.
Since Bitcoin was conceived eight years ago, it has completely changed the way people send, spend, and receive money on-line. It has also made it possible for on-line gamers to play the games they love at on-line casinos with the ease of convenience of an anonymous payment method. As more and more casinos that accept Bitcoin enter the marketplace, it is sure to become the easy choice for on-line casino patrons. The big advantage is that Bitcoin winnings can now be spent easily on-line, without the need to convert the money back to a traditional currency. For all of these reasons, 2016 is truly the year of Bitcoin, and this is truly the summer of Bitcoin.
