7 Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin That Online Casinos Use

Online casinos have been accepting Bitcoin for over a decade. Therefore, some gamblers may think that BTC is the only game in town regarding cryptocurrencies.

However, certain gaming sites accept plenty of other crypto. The only problem is that many players haven’t even heard of any coins besides Bitcoin.

That said, I’m going to cover 7 popular cryptocurrencies that online casinos accept. I’ll also discuss the function of each coin beyond just its gambling purposes.

1 – Ethereum

Ethereum (ETH) is the second-most-popular cryptocurrency besides Bitcoin. Its main function includes acting as a platform for decentralized apps (Dapps).

However, it also includes a token called ether that acts as a currency. Most people simply refer to ether as Ethereum, meaning the latter word is interchangeable as both a currency and platform. Online casinos that accept ether refer to it as Ethereum.

Russian-Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin conceived ETH in 2013. The co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine discussed how BTC sorely lacked scripting language for application development.

Buterin eventually worked on the project with Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Lorio (financer), Joe Lubin, and Gavin Wood—all of whom would become prominent names in crypto.

Today, Ethereum acts as an open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. The latter allows two or more parties to create a contract that’s enforced by the blockchain.

Again, ETH also allows developers to launch Dapps on its platform. Dapps consist of applications that aren’t governed by third parties, such as Apple.

Entrepreneurs have launched online casinos, poker sites, and sportsbooks as Dapps on the Ethereum network. The same gambling sites accept ETH as a payment and cashout option.

The Ethereum project, which is a non-profit, hasn’t had a completely smooth ride over its existence. A flaw in the platform allowed hackers to steal $50 million worth of ether in 2016.

ETH split into two separate projects, including Ethereum and Ethereum Classic (ETC) afterward. Ethereum easily remains the most popular of the two.

2 – Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is similar to Bitcoin in many ways. Like BTC, its primary function is to act as a decentralized virtual currency. Its similarity in name and function has made Bitcoin Cash quite popular at casinos.

In 2017, prominent figures behind BTC began arguing on the methods for increasing Bitcoin’s transactions per second.

Most agreed that Bitcoin needs better transaction speed to truly compete with USD, GBP, EUR, and other “fiat” currencies. However, they disagreed on the best method of doing so.

One group believed that BTC needed a larger block size to increase transaction speed. The debate boiled over in July 2017, when Roger Ver and others forked off Bitcoin to create BCH.

Bitcoin stores transaction records in 1 MB block sizes. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Cash stores information in 32MB blocks.

The latter typically leads to more transactions per second. However, bigger blocks also clash with the goals of many “miners.”

BTC and BCH miners both do the same thing to generate coins. They solve computational puzzles to slowly release more cryptocurrency into circulation.

However, larger block sizes force miners and their computers to do more work when unlocking coins. Generally speaking, only large companies, universities, and nonprofits find it feasible to mine Bitcoin Cash.

A division within the BCH community began brewing in 2018. One group, led by Craig Wright and online gambling entrepreneur Calvin Ayre, forked off Bitcoin Cash.

This fork created Bitcoin ABC (the original Bitcoin Cash) and Bitcoin SV (“SV” stands for Satoshi’s Vision). The latter now features 128MB block sizes.

3 – Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) is another peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that operates similar to Bitcoin. It’s sometimes referred to as the “silver to Bitcoin’s gold.”

Charlie Lee forked Litecoin off BTC in October 2011. Lee, a former Google and Coinbase employee, wanted a coin with slightly different features from Bitcoin.

These differences include decreased block generation time (only 2.5 minutes), a larger maximum number of coins (65 million), and a different hashing algorithm (scrypt vs. SHA-256).

You won’t notice these aspects when depositing at real money online casinos, though. The process of gambling with Litecoin and Bitcoin is essentially identical.

Litecoin has enjoyed varying degrees of success over the years. At one point, it was the second-most-popular cryptocurrency.

Ethereum eventually knocked LTC off its perch. However, the latter still remains one of the 10 most-used coins to date.

4 – Monero

The general population falsely assumes that Bitcoin allows for completely anonymous transactions. However, this belief isn’t entirely true.

Governments have traced Bitcoin-related cybercrimes to certain individuals by following their wallet address. The FBI busted the infamous Silk Road in this manner in 2013.

Monero (XMR), however, may be the only cryptocurrency that’s completely untraceable. Created in April 2014, it allows users to make transactions with complete anonymity.

XMR uses an “obfuscated public ledger,” which allows people to make standard cryptocurrency transactions. The key difference, though, is that outside observers can’t determine the sender, recipient, or amount.

Monero is perfect for online gamblers who, for one or more reasons, don’t want anybody seeing their deposits and withdrawals. However, it has also incited controversy over its ability to help criminals evade law enforcement.

Dark web users frequently use Monero to buy illegal substances and services. Those behind the WannaCry Ransomware Attack also relied on this crypto. Despite the controversy, XMR remains one of the most-popular cryptocurrencies.

5 – Ripple

Developed by Ripple Labs in 2012, Ripple (XRP) features a variety of functions. It acts as a currency, remittance network, and real-time gross settlement system.

This open-source protocol supports tokens that represent various types of value, such as fiat, cryptocurrency, commodities, and even frequent-flier miles. As Ripple notes, XRP allows “secure, instantly and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks.”

Online gamblers can also use XRP to make simple deposits and cashouts. They won’t experience any difference when depositing with XRP versus Bitcoin.

Ripple Labs seeks to make this cryptocurrency a standard in the banking system and for remittances. They remain a potential competitor to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

Opponents of Ripple argue that it suffers from scalability issues, thus relegating XRP to specific use cases. Some investors filed a class-action lawsuit against Ripple for allegedly scheming to “raise hundreds of millions of dollars through unregistered sales of its XRP tokens.”

The same investors allege that Ripple Laps created coins “out of thin air” and sold them to the public. Their lawsuit remains ongoing at the time of this writing.

As you can see, Ripple itself has experienced some problems lately. But you shouldn’t run into any dilemma yourself when gambling with XRP.

6 – Dogecoin

Launched in 2013, Dogecoin (DOGE) initially started out as a joke. The creator, Jackson Palmer, fashioned the coin’s name and logo after the Shiba Inu dog from the “Doge” meme.

However, Dogecoin has indeed become a serious cryptocurrency. It consistently ranks within or around the top 30 of all coins.

Many casinos that accept crypto beyond Bitcoin commonly take DOGE too. Dogecoin serves as a user-friendly cryptocurrency that’s especially popular as a way to leave online tips.

This tipping usage is most commonly seen on Twitter. Those who like a certain person’s work or views can leave a DOGE tip.

Dogecoin suffered a serious hack in December 2013. A criminal gained access to the blockchain’s filesystem and sent themselves millions of DOGE. Despite this early setback, Dogecoin has recovered and remains a legitimate project.

7 – Dash

Dash is another peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that forked off Bitcoin. Evan Duffield initially launched Dash as “Xcoin” in January 2014.

However, Duffield rebranded to “Darkcoin” to avoid negative speculation over Xcoin being a “pump and dump scheme. The latter refers to when founders and/or insiders pump market prices and dump on investors afterward.

Duffield had to rebrand yet again from Darkcoin to Dash. The Darkcoin name was drawing too much negative press for being related to the dark net.

Dash features quicker transactions and has a faster governance model than Bitcoin. It also offers a greater degree of privacy regarding transactions.

“Masternodes” handle the governance. A Masternode, who must own at least 1,000 Dash, relays messages, validates transactions, and votes on the network’s direction.

Dash has achieved some mainstream adoption in Venezuela and the cannabis industry. It’s also fairly popular within the online gaming industry.

Conclusion

Most casino players stick with traditional deposit methods, like credit card, bank transfer, e-wallet, prepaid card, and wire. However, cryptocurrencies have become more and more popular among gamblers.

They let players deposit without worrying about transactions being rejected by a bank or other third party. These peer-to-peer coins also feature a high degree of anonymity.

Monero offers the most privacy out of any cryptocurrency. Therefore, you might consider it if you’re really trying to hide your gambling entertainment.

All of the other coins covered here are also valid options for funding your account. They’re widely available at major crypto exchanges too.