If you’ve been keeping up to date with developments in the gambling space, you’ll know that cryptocurrency is fast becoming a big deal. When many of us think of cryptocurrency and what we can do with it, our minds typically go to speculative trading or paying for goods and services. But cryptos have found a new use case in gambling and have become popular in the space over the last few years.
With this popularity has come the rise of crypto gambling tokens and this specific niche of cryptos is on track to change how we gamble online forever.
What are Crypto Gambling Tokens
First and foremost, it is important to understand what crypto gambling tokens are and how they work. Simply put, crypto gambling tokens are cryptocurrencies that are strictly associated with a blockchain gambling project and are designed to facilitate gambling projects.
In the past, most crypto gambling sites simply allowed users to deposit their external tokens onto the platform’s wallet. If you signed up on a crypto gambling site, you could deposit your Bitcoin or Ether, for example, from an external wallet and use these tokens to gamble. But now, many of these sites are opting to create their own native tokens that users can buy on their sites and use to gamble.
Now, instead of depositing your own tokens from an external wallet, you would log onto a crypto gambling site and buy its native token. And this idea has really taken off. A look at the top rated crypto casinos list will show that many casinos are opting for their own tokens. Sometimes, these casinos give users the option to deposit their own ‘traditional’ cryptos as well as the choice of the site’s native token. In some other cases, customers are only allowed to use the site’s own token to gamble.
As crypto gambling tokens are becoming more popular, it is worth exploring how they are different from regular tokens and which is better.
Crypto Gambling Tokens Vs Traditional Tokens
When you consider crypto gambling tokens and traditional tokens, a few major differences emerge. First, crypto gambling tokens are strictly associated with a crypto gambling project while traditional tokens are associated with a singular blockchain ecosystem. $BETS, for example, is owned and issued by the management of BetSwirl, a crypto gambling project, while Bitcoin is tied to the Bitcoin blockchain ecosystem. They also differ in terms of transferability. See, a traditional cryptocurrency can be used even outside of its native ecosystem. Bitcoin can be used on different exchanges and platforms for a host of things like trading, paying for goods and services, and so on. But, a crypto gambling token can only be used on the platform it is native to. They can also only be used for gambling purposes. You cannot, for example, withdraw your crypto gambling token from the gambling site and try to use it to pay for goods and services,
A lot of crypto gambling tokens also lack some of the features that a traditional cryptocurrency would have. Even those based on a proof-of-stake blockchain like Ethereum sometimes cannot be staked to earn interest and users are typically not able to vote to make changes to the ecosystem or the project. Simply put, crypto gambling tokens are utility tokens through and through and this makes them much more limited than traditional ones.
With this comes the question of which is better between traditional cryptos and crypto gambling tokens. This ultimately depends on what you want to use the token for. If you want to use a crypto purely for gambling purposes and have no plans of ever trying to trade them, stake them, or use them to buy anything else, a crypto gambling token might be the best bet for you. Crypto gambling tokens are also a good idea if you value price stability for your cryptos. Because these tokens are not used outside of the casino, they are less likely to experience price volatility.
At the same time, many online gamblers might prefer traditional cryptos because they are hoping to make a double profit by having their cryptos appreciate in value while they play. Many also like the idea of being able to do other things with their tokens besides gambling or contributing to the community. If any of these apply to you, you should probably opt for traditional cryptos.
Conclusion
The popularity of cryptocurrency in the gambling world has given us a new type of token and, like just about everything, crypto gambling tokens come with their own pros and cons. While they are not as versatile as traditional cryptos, they do help to streamline the betting process and can be useful to many consumers. Moving forward, we should see even more casinos launch their own native tokens.