Here is a detailed look at some of the top altcoins available for use in online casinos.
Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) the second-biggest cryptocurrency today, was founded by Vitalik Buterin and went live on 30 July 2015.
Ethereum has become a preferred choice of currency for gambling largely due to its use of smart contracts. These smart contracts make the gambling experience more secure as there is no need for a third party to be involved. In addition, the contracts provide transparency as all information of an Ethereum casino is stored on a smart contract.
Ethereum is constantly reinventing itself and the updates make protocol better at running applications. A good example of this is Proof of Stake (PoS) which makes for faster transactions with improved privacy. Swift transacting is – of course – a major attraction for online gamblers who are interested in decentralization.
There are a growing number of casinos that offer Ethereum gambling. All the most popular big win casinos have added it as one of their preferred currencies. Names like Fortune Jack, 1xBit and mBit will gladly welcome Ethereum gamblers.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was the result of a chain split following a contentious hard fork of Bitcoin in August 2017. Led by Roger Ver, BCH has gained a significant level of traction from users and investors as it offers greater capacity than Bitcoin. While the BCH community pales in comparison to BTC, the cryptocurrency has become popular among gamblers who are interested in betting a less valuable version of Bitcoin.
There are now dozens of Bitcoin Cash casinos available with instant deposits and withdrawals. This is helped by Bitcoin Cash’s adoption of the “zero-confirmation” transaction, one which does not actually require inclusion in a block for it to be deemed valid.
Litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) was founded by Charlie Lee, an ex-director at Coinbase, and went live on 13 October 2011. The peer-to-peer cryptocurrency was released as a fork of Bitcoin with a goal of addressing the blockchain’s shortcomings. Recently it has started serving another purpose by becoming popular amongst online gamblers.
Litecoin offers low block generation time and updated hashing times to name but a few modifications. The reduction in block generation times makes for a currency that is quicker to deposit and withdraw than Bitcoin. Casinos look to currencies that offer their gamblers the fastest deposit and withdrawal times as this is one of the major attractions to gamblers when choosing a casino.
Litecoin also is appealing to the gambling market as it also can be used for placing smaller bets than Ethereum and Bitcoin due to its lower value. This makes it ideal for gamblers looking to play for fun and not just high rollers.
Regardless of what type of casino games they like to play, online gamblers will find the perfect Litecoin casino for them. The ever-growing list of Litecoin casinos includes big hitters like Cryptowild, Betchain, and Playamo.
XRP
XRP, known as the “banking coin”, was founded by Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen and was founded in 2012.
Sometimes known as “Ripple”, XRP is becoming increasingly popular and over time has surfaced as a popular currency of choice amongst online gamblers. The most important reason for this is it offers some of the fastest transactions in this space. By operating as a “consortium” (private blockchain), transactions can propagate among a handful of nodes almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, this means that XRP isn’t censorship-resistant, and while there haven’t yet been any noteworthy cases of transactions being blocked, it is possible that they will in the future.
Another advantage of using XRP for gambling is that transaction fees are low and personal details are kept private.
If you are wanting to try out gambling using XRP there is no shortage of options in terms of online casinos that will gladly accept XRP. Some of the top brands to try out include Stake.com, Thunderpick, and Aplay casinos.
Dogecoin
Jackson Palmer founded Dogecoin (DOGE) in November 2013. He joked on Twitter about the possibility of a “meme coin”. He was then approached by programmer Billy Markus and the two made Dogecoin a reality.
Dogecoin has in the meantime become a top contender amongst the most popular cryptocurrencies. Peaking at a $2 billion market cap, it has become easily accessible to a massive audience of not only investors but online gamblers too. With over 120 billion coins in the marketplace, the widespread availability, and its inflationary supply make it perfect for bettors who do not want to bet a scarce cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Palmer and Markus designed the currency to be more user-friendly than other cryptocurrencies in the market, providing benefits to the online gambling community too.
Dogecoin also has an active community that quickly shares news and stories about cryptocurrency. This is one of the main reasons that Dogecoin online gambling has become so popular. The word is spread rapidly about great gambling experiences and this has led to the success of many of the Dogecoin casinos available today. Casinos like TrueFlip, 7Bit Casino, and DuckDice are some of the leading brands to try your hand at Dogecoin gambling.
Monero
Monero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency that was founded in April 2014 by several developers under the supervision of Riccardo Spagni.
The main focus of Monero is on fungibility, privacy, and decentralization. Monero is thought to be the closest thing to an anonymous coin. This makes it a perfect transaction choice for online gamblers who hold anonymity and privacy as important factors when choosing an online casino.
Over and above the valued qualities mentioned, Monero is also a good option for online gambling as transactions are fast, making deposits and withdrawals a no-fuss process.
While Monero Casino options are not as vast as those of Bitcoin, there is still a strong contingent of online casinos where Monero gamblers can find thrilling betting action. Some of our favorites are BC.game, Playbetr Casino, and 1xSlots.
Tron
Tron (TRX) was founded in September 2017 by Tron Foundation CEO, Justin Sun.
The cryptocurrency market has seen TRX explode into the space over the last few years, offering blockchain solutions for the content and media industries. Of late there has been significant interest from online gamblers in using Tron as a means to gamble.
The company itself announced recently that it would be investing $100 million into a game fund for blockchain gaming, specifically online gambling, called “Tron Arcade”. This is a significant commitment to the gambling industry.
Tron offers gamblers fast, reliable, and unhackable payment processing and is one of the top 20 digital tokens.
Tron has some other great gambling games and feature which have been launched to further the Tron gambling experience like TronDice and Dapp TronBet, where Justin Sun says gamblers have already won 3 billion TRX. More novel gambling experiences have also been seen with the likes of Just.Game and others.
Top casino brands have taken notice of Tron’s dedication to the industry and have opened their arms to the coin as a gambling transaction option. To get going try Fortune Jack and 1xBit casinos where TRX is accepted for deposits and withdrawals.
What is an altcoin?
An altcoin is any digital token that is not Bitcoin. While Bitcoin was the trailblazer and forged a path forward in the cryptocurrency space, other peer-to-peer-based alternative coin projects have been founded and developed to address the perceived limitations of Bitcoin.
An altcoin is any other coin in the cryptocurrency space other than Bitcoin.
Altcoins vary vastly in their proposed solutions and offer a wide range of variations from Bitcoin. From modifications to the network’s consensus algorithm, to entirely new programming languages or moral codes. In the case of gambling applications, privacy improvements have been a key improvement from Bitcoin’s public network.
Is Ethereum an Altcoin?
There are many altcoins in the marketplace, all of which offer multiple variations, some more useful than others. Ethereum is second to Bitcoin in market capitalization as of May 2018. While ETH is an altcoin by definition, it is so much more in actuality.
While Bitcoin was the first, Ethereum is the biggest blockchain in terms of transaction volume. There are over 1600 dapps on the platform. In addition to this, they also have the largest community with at least twice as many developers as Bitcoin working on the platform every day.
One reason why Ethereum is not considered an altcoin by many is in its leading of the smart contract market. As the most used platform offering smart contracts, Ethereum is top of the class – in the same way, Bitcoin is top of its class in the currency space. Of the top 100 tokens by market cap, over 90% are built on the Ethereum platform.
How Do Altcoins Work?
Of the over 1500 altcoins on the market today a lot of them are built on a similar framework to Bitcoin. They adhere to the principles of peer-to-peer money, make use of mining processes and offer swift and cost-effective transactions.
However, each one has various other refined solutions to offer the space. Litecoin for example, is considered silver to Bitcoins gold and offers far more time-effective transactions.
Monero, on the other hand, is the coin of anonymity. Unlike Bitcoin where suppliers and payees may unwittingly reveal their personal transaction history, Monero offers complete privacy of this information.
While the list of altcoins is too vast to mention, the key takeaway is that many offer excellent enhancements to Bitcoin, particularly for the online gambling sector.
Where to Buy Altcoins
Altcoins, like Bitcoin can be bought on an altcoin exchange. Looking for an altcoin exchange it is advised to ensure that they are well-established and secure. Many of the bigger exchanges will not only allow you to buy altcoins but some also have the flexibility of allowing you trade altcoin-bitcoin pairs. Altcoins are more accessible to a wider audience as they are lower in price, making them a great trading option and gambling option.
Altcoin- Bitcoin pairs is a bonus for people looking to increase their Bitcoin portfolio. What it means is that you can use altcoins such as Ethereum, Monero, Litecoin etc to purchase Bitcoin on the exchange.
As cryptocurrency is becoming more integrated into the financial landscape of the world, exchanges are becoming more flexible and multi-purposed with added-value facilities such as financial derivatives, lending capabilities and interest bearing saving opportunities.
Bitcoin Casino gamblers can make use of some of these exchanges to facilitate their cash flow on any one of the BTC casinos on offer at The Bitcoin Strip.
Coinmama
Coinmama is a leading crypto exchange that offers traders many payment options including credit card, debit card, Apple Pay or bank transfer. They also have high spending limits, fast-track verification, and a world-class support team.
Coinbase
Coinbase is probably one of the most well-known altcoin exchanges and one of the most easy to use. Here you are able to buy, sell and track popular digital currencies all in one place. Members can also schedule recurring buys, enjoy vault protection by putting your money in a vault that offers time-delayed access, as well as a mobile app for transacting on the go
E Toro
E Toro is the self-proclaimed leading social trading platform. The exchange is continually adding to its list of cryptocurrencies and currently offer over 120. Buy and sell on eToro’s Cryptocurrency Trading Platform. Members can build their crypto-based portfolio and enjoy benefits not offered by most exchanges, such as near-immediate transfers of market orders.
Advantages of Betting with Altcoins
Bitcoin is the primary investment cryptocurrency and holds a lot of value in the marketplace. Most investors are using Bitcoin as a long term investment vehicle and are reluctant to flippantly gamble their store of BTC away.
Altcoins are seen as holding ‘less’ value in terms of long-term money-making potential, and so those wanting to freely gamble without the anxiety of losing their “digital gold” can do so in comfort. Altcoins can also be used to make smaller, private bets and thus increase the total number of bets a gambler can make – increasing the chances of scoring bigger wins.
Online gamblers are renowned for wanting the fastest transaction speeds for immediate deposits and withdrawals. This is another advantage of using altcoins to gamble online.
There are sometimes lags in the Bitcoin transaction timeframe due to congestion as there are so many users on the chain with limited capacity. With an altcoin, transaction times can be improved drastically.
Disadvantages of Gambling with Altcoins
There are many advantages to using an altcoin not only for day-to-day transactions but for gambling too. We would, however, be remiss to not mention the drawbacks around using altcoin for gambling.
First and foremost is the volatility that surrounds altcoins in general. The cryptocurrency market does fluctuate as a whole, but smaller lesser-known coins are not as anchored as major coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum which can make betting with an altcoin even riskier.
On top of that are the long-term prospects of a coin. Some coins which have been used for gambling in the past, are no longer in operation or have died out nearly completely.
Lastly, another disadvantage in the online casino industry is that not as many casinos accept smaller altcoins. While the use of Ethereum, Litecoin, and DOGE has increased dramatically over time, there are still dozens of altcoins that are not catered for.
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