Despite a huge spike in the popularity of cryptocurrencies back in 2018, altcoins are not widely accepted as a mode of payment. Most people who buy crypto regard it as an investment opportunity, not as a currency. This explains the huge spikes in prices of BTC and other prominent coins that were later followed by a fall in value.
However, some advancements are being made in terms of the popularization of cryptocurrencies in 2020. Some of the biggest adopters of altcoins are the web hosts and the online casino industry. You’d be surprised how many casinos followed the lead of BitStarz and started accepting cryptocurrencies.
The best part of this mass adoption is that online casinos accept more than just BTC. Here are the top five altcoins that gambling websites take as payment.
Ethereum
Bitcoin is a no-brainer. All casinos that green-lighted cryptocurrency payments accept BTC. In fact, they often brand themselves as “Bitcoin casinos” because it sounds understandable to someone who doesn’t know much about crypto.
But the fact of the matter is, many of these so-called Bitcoin casinos not only accept BTC but also Ethereum. Ethereum is the second most popular coin to Bitcoin and one not created by forking BTC. It operates on similar, but somewhat different principles and provides more functions than Bitcoin does.
Most notably, it has a smart contract function that allows safe transfers of ETH. With BTC, you’d have to use external services to achieve the same security. Ethereum is also marginally faster than Bitcoin to use, even though the transaction costs remain on a similar level.
This is why the number of Ethereum casinos is not much lower than the ones that accept BTC.
Litecoin
Litecoin is next on the list as it’s featured by approximately the same number of online casinos as Ethereum. It’s significantly cheaper than Ethereum, trading at $101 at the time of writing this article. Despite the low price, it has a great benefit to it, namely, it’s not as volatile as BTC. You will probably not wake up to the news of your LTC holdings doubled or halved.
These small fluctuations make it a good choice for making payments. The fact that the creator of this Bitcoin fork specifically made it process blocks faster than BTC also helps. You’re going to finish your LTC transaction in about 2.5 minutes. Compared to Bitcoin’s waiting time that can reach 10 minutes, this is a very number.
On top of that, LTC’s transaction costs fluctuate around $0.025 which is beyond negligible.
Bitcoin Cash
As you may have guessed from the name, Bitcoin Cash is a BTC fork. But its existence is not without controversy. BTC community was somewhat split on making this spin-off and it later was further split into Bitcoin SV by those who didn’t like the idea of BCH.
Despite that, Bitcoin Cash is now widely accepted in the community and is even marketed as a go-to choice for gambling! Unlike Bitcoin, BCH is much cheaper to purchase and as a result cheaper to operate. It costs fractions of a cent to make a BCH transfer and it usually takes a lot less time.
This is the reason Bitcoin Cash is becoming widely accepted at online casinos. Many Bitcoin casinos that previously operated with BTC only, start accepting BCH along with their main payment method.
Dash
Another Bitcoin fork, Dash is making its way up to the list of cryptocurrencies that are widely accepted worldwide. Dash isn’t as big as BTC or as revolutionary as Ethereum, but it does have its place in the ecosystem.
In comparison to Bitcoin, Dash is much more accessible. It’s currently traded at $97 which means users will likely not be confused by decimals. The transaction price is also negligible, measuring in fractions of a cent. The biggest difference, however, is the fact that you have the option to send funds privately.
Instant transactions are, as the name rightly suggests, instant. However, they are public and accessible via a blockchain browser. If you are willing to spare extra money and waiting time, you can initiate the PublicSend protocol. These transactions won’t be visible to the network.
Adoption of Dash by online casinos is more than expected since plenty of retailers already work with this cryptocurrency. The list includes several VPN providers, SaaS companies, and even a couple of retailers.
Monero
Monero’s path is full of controversy, mostly being attributed to its main distinguishing feature, being far more anonymous than Bitcoin. The thing is, even though Bitcoin can be made very secure by generating new addresses every time you send or receive the coin, it’s traceable via a blockchain explorer. Anybody on the web who has your BTC address can see its full transaction history.
With Monero, it’s much more secure. Its scripts use multiple layers of cryptography including ring signatures and a proof-of-work protocol that confirms the transaction without the knowledge of the sender or the amount of money being sent.
This is the reason it’s so popular and the reason it’s banned in some countries. However, if your county did not impose a ban on private cryptocurrencies, the odds are you’ll be able to use Monero at a casino.
Cryptocurrency is taking the industry by a storm
For an outsider, this may only be another form of payment that online casinos accept. For a cryptocurrency enthusiast, however, it’s much more than that. We all want a future where you can pay for your taxi ride with Bitcoin and buy groceries with Dash. But since cryptocurrencies are still in their early years, few vendors actually adopt them.
From having to learn about cybersecurity to the volatility associated with cryptocurrency, there are dozens of reasons why it’s rare to see a vendor taking altcoins as a mode of payment. The case with the casino industry shows us that it’s possible for a whole industry to adopt crypto and make it mainstream.
And even if you don’t particularly enjoy online casinos, this case shows cryptocurrency is here to stay and is going to become mainstream, taking one industry after another.