Given how quickly the online gaming market adapts to new trends and how quickly it embraces innovation, it is likely to be little surprise that many online poker sites allow users to bet with crypto.
In fact, there is a growing number of online gaming sites that only allow players to bet using crypto. We’re going to look at how crypto poker works and why it is becoming popular in this sector, as well as how you can use your crypto to play poker online if that appeals.
Why play poker with crypto?
There are several reasons why online gaming sites and players alike are embracing crypto as a payment method. These include:
- Transaction speed
- Fairness
- Fewer regional restrictions
- Lower fees
- Greater privacy
Let’s look at each of these in turn to examine why crypto is popular in the world of online gaming.
Transaction speed
Crypto transactions, such as those conducted through your XRPaynet card, happen instantaneously. This is one of the biggest benefits of using crypto full stop, compared to traditional banking.
In the world of online poker, using crypto to place your bets and collect your winnings means you can both enter and exit games within minutes, rather than having to wait hours for a buy-in to reach the gaming platform, or for your winnings to hit your wallet.
Fairness
Crypto poker tournaments typically use blockchain – a decentralised digital ledger – to record game outcomes and to share these with players to give them confidence that the game has not been rigged.
Some gaming platforms have taken this a step further and use what’s known as “provably fair” systems that allow players to verify that the cards in a game have been dealt randomly.
However, this only solves the issue around trusting the platform itself, rather than the other players at the table. So, while crypto poker operators are doing what they can to embed fairness into their platforms, it’s important to do your own due diligence too.
Fewer regional restrictions
Crypto poker tournaments operate easily across borders, whereas traditional online gaming sites are often restricted by the regulations in their specific region.
This can limit who can access a game, as well as what kinds of games that provider is allowed to offer. Regulation, of course, isn’t all bad. But if you want to play a truly global game of online poker, buying in with cryptocurrency is likely to be your best option.
Lower fees
Cryptocurrency fees are typically priced per transaction as “network fees”, which get paid to the blockchain recording the transaction. Time this right and these fees can be very low. However, at times of heavy usage they can increase significantly.
But even so, compared to traditional banking where you are often subject to both currency conversion costs and withdrawal fees, crypto transfer fees are normally lower.
Greater privacy
If you want to play poker on a traditional online gaming site, you’ll need to go through rounds of identity verification before you can join a table.
However, in the world of crypto poker, you can often play anonymously. One of the benefits of doing so is that it is harder for other players to track you across different games and therefore identify your own playing strategies.
But even though you can play with greater anonymity on a crypto poker site, you will still need to provide certain details to the gaming platform in order to place bets and join a game, so it’s still not completely anonymous.
Are there downsides to playing poker with crypto?
Like any payment method, nothing is foolproof. Some of the reasons why crypto is attractive – such as the lighter touch regulation – can also make it more risky.
However, if you are careful and carry out due diligence on any crypto poker platform before you start playing, you can mitigate those risks.
Another potential downside to playing poker with crypto is the volatility of cryptocurrencies. This can affect both the amount you need to pay to buy-in at a table and also the amount you receive as winnings.
That said, you can mitigate this risk of volatile crypto prices by using stablecoins – those backed by another stable asset, such as fiat currency.
How do you use crypto to play poker online?
To join a crypto poker game, you will need to have a crypto wallet set up so that you can carry out transactions. You’ll also need to check that your chosen crypto wallet is compatible with the online poker sites you are considering.
Once all the technicalities are sorted, it is a case of paying your buy-in and betting on each hand at the table as you would in a traditional game.