Peter Smith
The crypto ecosystem is undergoing undeniable growth in 2025, with skepticism finally making way for widespread acceptance of DeFi alternatives. Major retailers are now accepting crypto payments, trusted advisors are talking about crypto’s benefits, and investment seems within easier reach for everyone. But, there’s one industry that didn’t need convincing of crypto’s potential – iGaming.
Shifts towards cryptocurrencies in the digital gaming sphere, particularly across online casinos, have been in place since as far back as 2014, and they’re only set to gain momentum as cryptocurrency usage spreads. This pairing is most notable because, far from simply accepting crypto payments, the vast majority of online casinos are quite literally changing their workflows around decentralized currencies. And many are enjoying significant growth as a result.
In this article, we’ll consider why cryptocurrency usage is so prevalent in the iGaming world, as well as considering which casinos have benefited most from making the crypto switch so far.
The Benefits of Cryptocurrency in Online Gaming
According to the latest findings, cryptocurrency bets now account for roughly 16% of all bets in the online gaming sphere. While this figure is down from 20% last year, it highlights an ongoing trend towards crypto betting, with Bitcoin bets particularly prevalent across everything from standard casinos to the crash sites listed here. And it’s hardly surprising when you consider that the incorporation of crypto gambling stands to provide benefits for both users and casinos.
Those benefits are far-reaching and undeniable, and include:
- Reduced transaction fees: Cryptocurrency bets reduce transaction costs for players by between 50-80% compared with cash alternatives due to their ability to cut out the middleman.
- Speedier transactions: Crypto transactions are also a whole lot faster to process. In fact, Ethereum’s 15-second confirmation times make these transactions pretty much instantaneous, while even Bitcoin takes a mere ten minutes to process.
- Increased privacy: Crypto’s privacy has long been a selling point, and iGaming is no exception. A lack of personal information attached to each transaction is especially tempting across online casinos.
- Security peace of mind: Cryptocurrency is also a safer option for both players, who are free from risks like identity theft, and merchants who can lean into immutable transactions.
- Potentially tax-free earnings: Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin remain largely unregulated in many countries, meaning there’s a possibility that crypto bet winnings won’t be taxed depending on your location.
Examples of Crypto-Led Casino Growth
While these benefits ultimately speak for themselves, the power of increasing cryptocurrency adoption across online casinos really comes into its own when considering examples seen across recent years. The growth enjoyed across the casinos at the crypto forefront is especially notable, and is best displayed across case studies that include –
# 1 - Bitcasino.io: The Forefront of Change
In keeping with its name, Bitcasino became the world’s first licensed crypto casino when it entered the market in 2014, and has played a major part in setting the gold standard for cryptocurrency payment processing across multiple digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Despite being the first of its kind, Bitcasino’s growth has been impressive across a user base that increased by five times in a few short years of operations.
There are various factors behind Bitcasino’s success, including benefits such as an instant withdrawal system that’s fully in keeping with the speedy transactions that make crypto betting stand out. Bitcasino also offers special bonuses for crypto deposits and the maintenance of all player accounts in Bitcoin to eliminate conversion fees. And it’s hardly surprising that Bitcasino is keen to encourage crypto betting, considering that transaction data reveals how players using crypto place an average 40% more bets!
# 2 - FountainJack: Leaning into Crypto-Led Growth
FountainJack also began crypto gaming operations back in 2014, and has enjoyed an impressive growth trajectory as a result, with a player base that grew by an impressive 300% between 2018-2021 alone. Over their years of transaction data, FountainJack has seen the benefits of crypto transactions first-hand, with crypto users depositing around 50% more, and staying active for 60% longer.
Despite facing some early technical setbacks, FountainJack has continued to thrive on the back of a multi-wallet system that supports nine different cryptocurrencies and processes withdrawals in just 30 minutes. Once again, these benefits highlight how cryptocurrency betting can stand apart and often outperform traditional cash options.
Is There a Down Side?
So far, it isn’t difficult to understand why such a large portion of the online betting world is currently switching over to cryptocurrencies. But there are also cons worth considering before making this switch. The most obvious downsides of using DeFi currencies like Bitcoin for betting purposes include –
- High volatility: The volatility of cryptocurrency is one of its most distinguishing features, and can become a problem across bets that lose their value in moments, particularly if players don’t pay close attention to crypto markets. Winnings that are left in player wallets can also very quickly lose value.
- Lacking legal frameworks: While legality surrounding cryptocurrency is improving, currencies like Bitcoin remain largely unregulated, leaving users open to fraud, scams, and other setbacks with no legal recourse.
- Hacker risks: While security is a benefit of cryptocurrency betting, the need to store currencies in betting wallets does leave players open to hacking risks, which have already led to losses on a mass scale across iGaming platforms.
- Unhealthy gambling behaviors: While many traditional casinos now prioritize responsible gaming efforts, the same isn’t necessarily true of crypto casinos, which are unregulated and thus less likely to put safeguards in place. This can be harmful to gambling addicts, especially considering that online crypto casinos are exempt from things like physical casino bans.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency casinos are currently at the helm of transforming everything that the iGaming industry has to offer, enabling faster, private transactions that hold the potential to be far more lucrative for everyone. While prevailing risks mean that there’s still a long way to go before crypto betting outstrips traditional cash options, there’s no denying that players and merchants alike could benefit from tapping into this trend sooner rather than later.
Peter Smith
