You will no doubt have heard of Bitcoin casinos before. After all, these gambling sites are right up there with some of the most profitable and exciting places to play. What are Wrapped Bitcoin casinos, though, and how does this cryptocurrency work in relation to Bitcoin, if at all? If these are the sorts of questions you want answered, we’re happy to help. We’ll answer those questions in turn, but first, let’s look at a handful of top sites that offer these services.
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
The first thing that you need to know about Wrapped Bitcoin is that it is a “wrapped asset”. This means it is a crypto coin that is pegged to the value of another cryptocurrency or asset, for instance, stock market shares, real estate, or even gold. Because of that, it is entirely possible that decisions made regarding the liquidity of Wrapped Bitcoin may be made centrally, which defies the point of having a decentralized coin. In short, because they can’t be automated by a smart contract, they are Turing-complete and “could” potentially be open to manipulation.
Wrapped Bitcoin is pegged to the value of Bitcoin (BTC). Its cryptocurrency is known as WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin). Interestingly, though, it doesn’t run on Bitcoin’s blockchain. Instead, it is an ERC20 coin, which runs on Ethereum’s blockchain. In short, it is effectively BTC on the ETH network.
Wrapped Bitcoin casinos are still a relatively new concept, as are wrapped assets (in relation to cryptocurrencies) in general. However, the basic principle of any Wrapped Bitcoin casino is that it should accept WBTC as one of its deposit options. Such sites are not under any obligation to offer bonuses and promos, withdrawals, or even gameplay options in WBTC. However, the more amenable they can make themselves to these options, the more appealing they will be and the better they will find the bill.
It is worth noting that WBTC is an option that you can use to deposit at online casinos, but it may (or may not) be available as a staking currency. What we mean by that is that while you can deposit with it, you may not be able to place bets in WBTC. In this case, the deposit would be converted into another option for gameplay. Fortunately, there are one or two sites out there which at least offer basic gameplay in WBTC, including RNG table games like roulette, dice, blackjack, and others.
There are a couple of perks to playing with Wrapped Bitcoin at WBTC casinos. Let’s introduce you to the two main ones below. They include:
The first pro to using Wrapped Bitcoin at online casinos is that it is easy for you to gauge its value. Wrapped Bitcoin is pegged to Bitcoin. This means that it has a 1:1 value – one WBTC is the same value as 1 BTC.
The second advantage we can see of using Wrapped Bitcoin at online casinos is that it is an ERC20 token. This means that it operates on Ethereum’s blockchain. In short, you can engage in Bitcoin-like transactions (at a like-for-like value) albeit on an entirely different (Ethereum) blockchain.
No cryptocurrency comes without disadvantages. While minimal, we’ve highlighted the main disadvantages to playing with Wrapped Bitcoin below, and they include:
Wrapped assets such as WBTC have caused concern amongst market users. For instance, Ethereum’s inventor has expressed concern at how “trustworthy” wrapped assets are, especially regarding their sensitivity to centralization.
As with so many ERC20 tokens and altcoins, there simply isn’t the same level of games available for WBTC users as they are with, say, Bitcoin. For this reason, you could be hard-pressed to find your favorite games.
Wrapped Bitcoin seems to be more popular at crypto bookmakers than casinos, but there are options out there. Any top WBTC casino worth its salt should provide the following:
WBTC casinos are still new, but you can get a slice of the action by jumping on board at any of these two betting sites:
Follow these short steps to get started with Wrapped Bitcoin casinos today:
Wrapped Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that isn’t difficult to wrap your head around, and it has great liquidity. It is also scalable. Therefore, we wouldn’t be surprised if WBTC grows considerably over the next few years and becomes one of the more popular cryptos you can use at betting sites.
Not by a long shot, although casino sites are beginning to show interest in WBTC.
We’ve seen RNG-friendly table games but not live dealer titles at this moment in time.
This could be troublesome, but any casino serious about accepting WBTC should make that an option.
That depends on who you ask. We saw no real issues, but there are concerns amongst some insiders about how “centralized” it is.
There are fees associated with WBTC transactions, but they are minimal at 0.09% to 0.25% in most cases.