Bitcoin and Web3: A Match Made in the Digital Heaven?

It was once the great disruptor on the market, but perhaps not in the way its creator had hoped. Satoshi Nakamoto wanted Bitcoin to usurp fiat currencies and put the power of finances back into people's hands. Instead, it spawned a camp of Web3 enthusiasts.

When Bitcoin was first created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the goal was to disrupt the financial market by putting the power of finances back into people’s hands and away from large investment companies. However, as Bitcoin became more popular, these companies began to accumulate even greater riches.

Despite Bitcoin’s affinity with the Web3 community, you might expect it to feature heavily in their online entertainment circles. To an extent, it does, mainly as a payment method – just as Nakamoto envisioned. This is most prominently seen in iGaming.

Still, the inherent synergy of cryptocurrencies with online gambling is a hot topic with valuable points on both sides.

Sidestepping the Allure of Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are becoming more accessible, varied, and popular. However, they come with some inherent issues that make them a riskier choice than most fiat currencies.

For starters, there’s the price volatility. If you’re depositing Bitcoin into an online gambling site account and leaving it there for more than a day, there’s a good chance that its worth will be different when you go to withdraw it – sometimes drastically so.

On top of this, transaction fees can be quite high with cryptocurrencies. Yet, most regular payment methods – like via card or an eWallet – no longer charge transaction fees to gambling sites.

This factor needs to be weighed into each bet and deposit. That’s because what you withdraw may not be as much as you expect. It is also another point on volatility. A dip in price over even an hour or two could result in the withdrawal being underwhelming.

For online casinos, they operate in a heavily regulated environment. To earn a license from any of the major regulators, like the MGA or UKGC, they need to stay on top of important customer and anti-money-laundering standards, which cryptocurrencies tend to flaunt through their enhanced privacy measures.

So, the payments casinos offer instead are very varied, allowing for maximum accessibility but stopping short of crypto.

Benefits of Accepting Cryptocurrencies

There are many benefits for those willing to accept cryptocurrencies from those willing to wager them.

Even with many other payment options included, having an even more diverse selection of methods will only enhance the appeal and reputation of a platform. That’s especially true if people can withdraw crypto from an online casino. It will catch the eye of those intrigued by the scene.

Transaction fees can be a pain for those who pay with crypto. Still, blockchain-based online casinos would likely suffer lower transaction fees than those enforced by the most common payment processors.

With this infrastructure in place, it would be possible to cater to player pseudo-anonymity and become more accessible to people who perhaps don’t have access to conventional fiat currencies and payment methods.

Cryptocurrencies aren’t yet a mainstream payment method. However, if they do become one, we’ll have to see how online gambling sites wrangle the regulations to cater to the crypto crowds.