Bitcoin Gold/BTG
Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is one of several cryptocurrencies that have forked off the famed Bitcoin (BTC). This digital currency was created in October 2017 as a proposed upgrade to BTC. Ever since, it has slowly been accepted by online casino sites. We're going to discuss more on Bitcoin Gold along with how it rates as an online casino payment method.
What Is Bitcoin Gold?
Bitcoin Gold is a peer-to-peer digital currency. It's decentralized and operates without any involvement from a central bank or third party.
BTG was hard forked off Bitcoin in October 2017. The group behind Bitcoin Gold wanted to change the proof of work algorithm in order to prevent application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) from being used to mine BTG.
In other words, Bitcoin Gold founders seek to keep a small collection of miners from exerting too much control over their cryptocurreny. Having conceivably done so, they believe that BTG is more decentralized than BTC.
How to Use Bitcoin Gold at Online Casinos
A growing number of online gambling sites are accepting Bitcoin Gold. But you still need to look for relevant online casinos that take this crypto. Therefore, your first matter should be finding an internet casino where BTG deposits are available.
From here, you need to obtain Bitcoin Gold. Unfortunately, no cryptocurrency exchanges allow you to buy BTG directly with fiat (e.g. USD). You'll have to buy a mainstream cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, at an exchange that allows fiat purchases (e.g. Coinbase).
From here, you need to transfer your mainstream crypto to another exchange that offers Bitcoin Gold. Once you've made the exchange for BTG, you can use the following steps to deposit at a gambling site:
- 1. Visit the online casino in question.
- 2. Go to the banking section.
- 3. Choose Bitcoin Gold from the options.
- 4. Copy the generated wallet address.
- 5. Go back to the exchange.
- 6. Choose to send Bitcoin Gold.
- 7. Enter the casino's wallet address in the recipient field.
- 8. Confirm the transaction and wait.
You can also consider moving your coins to a Bitcoin Gold wallet, instead of keeping them on an exchange. Some gamblers do this so that they have full control over their coins. But initiating everything from the exchange is handier and cuts out extra steps.
Pros of Using BTG for Online Gambling
Like with many cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Gold is decentralized. Therefore, you can use it at a variety of gaming sites without having to deal with central banks or other third parties.
BTG shares a lot in common with Bitcoin in that it offers relatively low fees and quick deposits/withdrawals. It has the potential to outdo some traditional payment methods in this regard, including bank transfers, e-wallets, and wires.
Looking specifically at Bitcoin Gold, it features even more decentralization than other cryptocurrencies like BTC. If you're concerned about large mining organizations dictating the price, then you'll be pleased with this aspect of BTG.
Cons of Using Bitcoin Gold at Online Casinos
Bitcoin Gold has been under fire ever since they forked off Bitcoin. The founding team pre-mined BTG in secrecy without feedback from the community. This event led to Bitcoin Gold losing some trust in the crypto community.
Further trust was lost when BTG was hit by a 51% hashing attack in May 2018. The perpetrators were able to spend the same coins more than once, siphoning off 388,000 BTG (approx. $18 million at the time).
Finally, Bitcoin Gold has yet to be listed on major fiat-to-crypto exchanges. Therefore, you must go through extra steps when obtaining it.
Overall Verdict on Bitcoin Gold for Online Gambling
Bitcoin Gold was conceived with the promise of being more decentralized than Bitcoin. This purpose hasn't led to it gaining wide-scale adoption. However, BTG has at least managed to be accepted at a fair number of gambling sites.
The key benefit of BTG is that it shares many characteristics of Bitcoin, including low fees, somewhat quick deposits, and decentralization. However, it hasn't quite gained the same trust as BTC for multiple reasons. We still think that Bitcoin Gold is a decent online gambling payment option. But we're not ready to give up Bitcoin in favor of it.