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Over the last few years Bitcoin has popped up everywhere in the tech world and in mainstream media. To understand the answer to that question you have to understand that for the entire history of online poker its Achilles heel has been the depositing and withdrawing of real money.
Real money is bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars considered imperative for playing poker online. Bitcoin, in theory anyways, is the single greatest way to transfer cash to and from an online poker site. It a digital currency, basically, and it's overseen by no government agency or ruling body. On top of all that, there are virtually no transfer fees. Bitcoin has the chance to fundamentally change bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars way online poker sites are run, now and into the future.
Here's a closer look at Bitcoin poker online, a brief history of the world's most famous digital cryptocurrency and the future of bitcoin poker sites in the US and beyond.
The history of Bitcoin is unusual because its development is shrouded in mystery. Instead the coins themselves are created by powerful computers verifying and recording payments on a public ledger. Instead Bitcoins are essentially mathematical codes. Each one is unique. It was worth bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars few dollars for the first few months of the year but by May it started to climb.
Bitcoin exchangers - where you could trade Bitcoin for fiat currencies like US dollars - started to pop up. That volatility was just a sign of things to come and in the unthinkable happened: To put things in perspective, just three years earlier Bitcoin was worth pennies. There have been numerous other digital currencies that have tried to copy Bitcoin, such as Litecoin, Dogecoin and Darkcoin, but none of them have really caught on.
More and more, like Ethereum, continue to make progress though. Bitcoin is based in math. Instead of being represented by actual gold or some similarly valuable material, Bitcoins are created when people with powerful computers dedicate their machines to verifying and recording payments on the public ledger.
You could almost say that Bitcoin is created by Bitcoin. When a computer finishes verifying a block, it is rewarded with 25 bitcoins. This is called Bitcoin mining. Bitcoins become much harder to mine and conceivably more valuable as time goes on because there is a finite amount and the algorithms behind verifying the transactions become more and more complicated. The vast majority of people that use Bitcoin never have anything to do with the mining part of the technology.
Bitcoin represents bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars unique bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars for poker. Bitcoin also makes for incredibly easy deposits and withdrawals to online poker sites. Because Bitcoin is entirely digital it takes just seconds to transfer them. Instead, you just take your coins out instantly. Bitcoin is obviously incredibly volatile although it has levelled off a bit in recent months and there is a chance it will be de-valued completely some day. Perhaps the strongest case for Bitcoin bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars that this is something people want.
A global, potentially anonymous currency, that can be transferred in a matter of seconds with zero transaction fees. Will it be Bitcoin? And will it become the dominant means of currency for playing online poker?
Only time bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars tell. There are poker sites that only use Bitcoin as a currency eg SealsWithClubs or SwCPoker and regular bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars poker sites that will accept Bitcoin as a deposit method but will change your balance into standard currency for play on the poker site.
As far at Bitcoin poker and Bitcoin poker sites go, actually acquiring the Bitcoins is the most complicated part of the process. You might think a wallet is a place to store Bitcoins but it would be more accurate to say a wallet stores the information necessary to transact Bitcoins. Bitcoins cannot be separated from the Block Chain and when you buy bitcoins you are technically just buying ownership of part of the Block Chain. Bitcoin wallets can be categorized into four basic kinds:. This is the most common style of wallet and the easiest to use.
You simply go to a website and enter your information to instantly have access to an bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars wallet.
One upside to this approach is that if your computer bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars and you lose all your files then you still have your Bitcoins.
Detractors to this approach would say that having them online all the time makes them susceptible to hacking. This is the same as the online wallet except you actually download software to act as your wallet. These are considered slightly more secure than the regular wallet. This might sound strange to someone unfamiliar with Bitcoin but because the currency is essentially a string of numerals you can print it on phsyical things. In the past users have printed their Bitcoin codes on novelty coins but you could use anything including wood, plastic or plastic.
You could also just write down on a piece of paper. Hardware wallets are just physical bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars that store your information digitally. Multi-signature transactions are a relatively new, arguably more secure way, of making Bitcoin transactions.
Multi-sig wallets add another level of bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars and give users access to a form of escrow. Make a purchase online? Your transaction will send one signature but not all of bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars until you actually receive a product, for example.
Exchanges let people trade fiat currencies for bitcoins while charging you bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars small fee. The problem is that right now these exchanges exist in a grey area of the law. Many governments are concerned these exchanges could be used for money laundering. It used to be a crap shoot deciding what exchange to use as some of them were shut down outright, leaving their costumers without millions of dollars worth of bitcoin.
The industry is changing, however, and there are now many exchanges based in the US that are considered more secure. There are some alternatives to buy bitcoin anonymously, however, which is useful for people who want to remain anonymous. The bitcoin exchange industry is so fluid that it changes on a month-to-month basis. You can check out review sites like TheBlockChain. Quite often Bitcoin poker sites are also relegated to in-browser play so that you can play on any device including mobile without having to download any software at all.
The combination of no-download software and Bitcoin is one of the simplest, most accessible ways to play poker. There are regular online poker sites that have just started accepting Bitcoin in addition to normal currency. These sites tend to have very good software but because they accept real cash they may not be able to provide poker in your particular jurisdiction.
One difference between Bitcoin poker sites is that some convert your Bitcoins into chips for play on the site. Another difference between Bitcoin poker sites is the way they handle deposits. Some sites will hold a Bitcoin account balance for you; others sites are experimenting with never actually holding your funds. You log in, your Bitcoin are reserved momentarily for wagering in the poker game, and then you log out and the amount that you won or lost is sent right back to your Bitcoin wallet.
The short answer is yes, although because online poker bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars essentially unregulated in the United States right now except in 3 statesplaying on a poker site that both accepts US players bitcoin mining payout schedule for pokerstars Bitcoin is a big risk.
We don't currently recommend any poker sites that accept Bitcoin and US players but that could change as the industry becomes more and more regulated. Despite rumors suggesting PokerStars was on the brink of accepting Bitcoin as a payment method as early asPokerStars does not currently accept Bitcoin transfers. Back in the early days of Bitcoin a few poker sites trying to get Bitcoin poker off the ground offered freerolls that gave away free Bitcoin. Ever since Bitcoin surged in value, though, those days are long gone.
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