The enthusiasm around cryptocurrencies and especially Bitcoin is not diminishing this year – quite the opposite! Because the largest cryptocurrency on the market is still chasing one record after another in 2021 and rose to a value of more than 57,000 US dollars, not least due to the tweets of Tesla founder Elon Musk. But more and more companies are also relying on the advantages of Bitcoin & Co. This also includes betting providers, where sports betting with Bitcoin has long been possible. But what is behind all this?
The world of cryptocurrencies is currently experiencing one piece of good news after another. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently announced that the electric car manufacturer will also accept payments via Bitcoin in the future. This is more than good news for crypto fans: Because with every additional use case, the value of the virtual currency also increases. However, there is no need to wait for this to be implemented. After all, bitcoin can already be put to good use, facilitating payment transactions on the Internet – including sports betting. It seems that many folks like to use digital tokens for this purpose.
Sports fans no longer have to go to the local betting shop to place a bet on their favorite team. Instead, sports betting providers offer modern websites and smart betting apps that make placing a bet just a few clicks away. While deposits and withdrawals to the betting account have long been dominated by traditional payment providers, bitcoin could lead to a real revolution here as well. Due to the numerous advantages of the cryptocurrency, the traditional financial providers are now also under pressure in the area of sports betting. Some newspapers mention that 2021 will be a good year for sports betting.
Sports betting with Bitcoin: advantages of the cryptocurrency
The best betting providers have been able to score with a high willingness to innovate in recent years and present new features for betting fans at regular intervals. This also affects the deposit area, which is regularly expanded by the bookmakers with new payment methods. This time, however, the introduction of the Bitcoin is accompanied by significantly greater changes than was the case, for example, with the introduction of Apple Pay. But what advantages does the Bitcoin offer betting providers?
One of the biggest plus points of the Bitcoin is definitely the lack of fees. Because while deposits with a credit card quickly incur a few percent in transaction costs, a transfer with your own Bitcoin wallet is completely free of charge. This also applies to withdrawals from the betting account to the wallet. If you place bets regularly, you will save quite a bit in fees in the long run and can invest this money much more sensibly. The often praised anonymity also comes into play with sports betting with bitcoin. While classic payment methods require the disclosure of personal bank details, this is not the case with Bitcoin payments. This makes it almost impossible for hackers and unauthorized third parties to intercept sensitive data and use it for criminal purposes.
In addition to the high level of security, Bitcoin also stands for absolute speed in the area of sports betting. Thus, both deposits and withdrawals are carried out with the Bitcoin at lightning speed. While a classic bank transfer often takes several days, the Bitcoin deposit lands on the personal betting account within minutes. Thus, the Bitcoin easily keeps up with the classic payment methods and should put one or the other payment provider under further pressure.
How do betting providers work with Bitcoin?
The number of betting providers with Bitcoin has grown significantly compared to the last few years. With a short web search, interested betting fans can thus quickly find a suitable sports betting provider and register a new betting account. This is absolutely necessary in order to be able to make the first deposit via Bitcoin afterwards. As soon as the registration is completed, the option “Bitcoin” can be found in the deposit area of the bookmaker. Here, the corresponding deposit amount is then specified and the transaction is confirmed with a mouse click.
- Now a new window opens in which the amount to be transferred in Bitcoin is specified.
- In addition, the wallet address of the bookmaker or a corresponding QR code can be found here.
- The transfer itself must then be made from the user’s personal Bitcoin wallet to the corresponding address.
- Due to the strong fluctuations of the Bitcoin price, the bookmakers have opted for an intuitive method.
- Thus, the exchange rate is frozen for a total of ten minutes, so that fans of sports betting are credited the full amount even in the event of sudden fluctuations.
The bets themselves are then settled in classic FIAT money. Within Germany and other EU countries, this is classically the euro. However, all winnings can of course be paid out in Bitcoin again afterwards. For this purpose, the bookmaker transfers the corresponding euro value at the current exchange rate in the form of bitcoin to the personal wallet already used for the deposit. Within a few minutes, the transfer of the full winning amount is then completed. Thus, Bitcoin is also ideally suited for short-term transfers between the betting account and the wallet.