One thing few of us have been able to escape in the news in recent years is the rise of cryptocurrency. Many have touted it as the next step in a great many financial sectors, and that it will usher in a new age. One area where it has been rapidly adopted is the online gambling sector. It has many advantages as a payment method, but can we expect it to become the biggest payment method in online gambling? Let’s look at arguments for both sides—it isn’t all that crystal clear at this stage.
Why Crypto Could Become the Biggest Payment Method
Let’s start by looking at the arguments in favour of this position. One of the biggest points made by those in favour of crypto is that cryptocurrency is, by its nature, entirely anonymous. This means that we could bet using crypto without fear of leaked financial information, since little to no personal data is needed to bet with crypto. Cyber-attacks are more common than ever, currently, without around 65,000 attempts to hack businesses occurring every day. If crypto were the biggest payment method, you would not need to worry about this since none of your information would be stored on the site.
The biggest cryptocurrencies also tend to guarantee faster transactions. In some cases, payments and withdrawals with traditional casino payment methods like those seen at PayPal casino sites can take as long as 3-5 days. Bitcoin, for example, can make large transactions in minutes, meaning you no longer have to wait around for your funds. Furthermore, the transaction fees are generally tiny—one huge BTC transaction, worth around $19 million USD, the fees were less than $40.
It would also act as a kind of global currency, with no centralised authority regulating it in favour of big banks and financial institutions. You could bet anywhere in the world with it, meaning far greater access to worldwide sportsbook betting and things like that.
As you can see, then, cryptocurrency betting would address a great many of the issues the industry is currently trying to solve. Anonymity is a big win for many, and indeed a large part of the reason many choose to bet with crypto. Your activities would be hidden from the credit institutions, and we could all bet with more peace of mind.
But is all this really enough to drive crypto to the top spot in gambling payment methods?
Why Crypto Could Not Become the Biggest Payment Method
In its current state, crypto faces a lot of issues to become the biggest payment method for online gambling. Its biggest problem is that it is currently not particularly easy or simple to use. There is a good deal of technical knowledge required to understand how it works and how to use it. While this has not been an issue for investors, generally speaking, for more casual people seeing it as a means to an end, i.e., online gambling, it could put a lot of people off.
The other issue is that many nations are still skeptical of the crypto casinos. They see crypto as a risk for many reasons. So, at the moment, it’s still relatively difficult to find a good selection of casinos offering crypto payment methods. A good part of the reason it has been seen as risky is because of its high volatility.
This volatility is the other big factor against the argument that crypto will become the biggest payment method. Virtually across the board, all the major cryptocurrencies tend to spike and fall in value wildly, and apparently unpredictably. For consumers and operators, this is a huge problem. Crypto you bought the day before could have suddenly fallen in value, meaning you have less betting power. Winnings earned in crypto could be worth less than what you staked, even if they were initially higher. Profits, for the operators, can fluctuate wildly as the value changes.
Some would say crypto is still in its infancy and has a lot of wrinkles to iron out. Until such time as the currencies are easier to use and understand, and are stabilized in some degree, it seems difficult to see how they could become the biggest payment method for online gambling and casinos.
So, as you can see, it is far from clear at this stage which direction this will go in. There are many advantages of crypto to online gambling, but at the same time, there are many barriers to entry. It is somewhat esoteric and difficult to grasp, and far less universal than more traditional payment methods. At the same time, crypto does address many of the issues that the online gambling sector is facing today. Whether or not it becomes the biggest gambling payment method, it is plainly going to play a big role.
