There is a pretty good chance you have heard of Bitcoin before. There is also a greater chance that you have no fucking idea how it works. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is changing the way Americans bet on sports. All of our favorite offshore betting sites are starting to modernize by allowing deposits and payouts through this method. This guide will outline the many advantages of Bitcoin, as well as techniques that you can use convert it into tangible currency like PayPal. Welcome to the step-by-step American Bitcoin sportsbetting guide.
Advantages of American Bitcoin Sportsbetting
Before trying to confuse you with explaining the fundamentals of cryptocurrency, allow me to sell you on the many advantages it yields. Most of the benefits from Bitcoin directly solve the struggles everyday Americans face when trying to bet online. One of the largest advantages is that all Bitcoin transactions are entirely anonymous. There is no name or personal information attached to your Bitcoin wallet. You only have a receiving address, a password, and a secret recovery answer. Your Bitcoin address will be the only thing that payment senders/recipients will see when interacting with you. This address will be a randomly generated hash sequence. Here is an example:
You will always copy/paste Bitcoin addresses instead of trying to manually type it out. Bitcoin payments are entirely anonymous and untraceable as no personal information is attached. Another major benefit is that transactions are processed instantly. Whenever you send Bitcoin to another person, they will receive it in a matter of seconds (similar to PayPal). This means you can withdraw your funds from offshore betting sites much quicker than any other method. American betting sites like 5Dimes and Bookmaker will payout via Bitcoin in under 24 hours. There are even dedicated American Bitcoin sportsbetting sites like Nitrogen which have automatic 30-second payouts. The days of waiting three weeks for a check to come in the mail are over.
Another advantage of American Bitcoin sportsbetting is that there are typically no fees attached. Whenever you send Bitcoin to another person’s wallet, you will be charged a small $0.01 – $0.03 processing fee. When you withdraw your funds from an American Bitcoin sportsbetting site, they will usually do it free of charge. This means you do not need to worry about paying over $30 to receive a check. And since cryptocurrency transactions are so easy, American Bitcoin sportsbetting sites will typically have very low minimums from payout amounts. This means even if you only want to bet a couple of dollars at a time, you will still be able to withdraw your funds at the end of the day.
Bitcoin Explained Briefly in Detail
Time to get confusing. Bitcoin is a digital currency. It is entirely decentralized and not owned by anybody. Bitcoin is created and stored electronically through software computation. So while standard issue currencies like the US dollar represent tangible gold held in a reserve, Bitcoin represents mathematics. These are the calculations used to verify other transactions that are going on. Have I lost you already? I should probably just let you watch this video instead:
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Do not let Bitcoin’s complexity turn you off. You do not need to understand how it works to use it. Even those who have vast computer and software knowledge still take a while to begin to put the pieces in place. My step-by-step guide will allow you to go through the process at a layman-terms level of understanding.
American Bitcoin Sportsbetting explained Step-By-Step
I am going to walk you through the process of American Bitcoin sportsbetting from start to finish. Everything you want to know from setting up a wallet to converting your funds into PayPal will be covered in great detail. Cryptocurrencies are complicated to understand from a mechanical level. Do not let that sway you away from the benefits of American Bitcoin sportsbetting.
Step #1 – Choosing a Bitcoin Wallet
The first thing we are going to want to do is set up a wallet. This will allow you to send, store, and receive Bitcoins. Because cryptocurrencies are decentralized and not owned by anyone, you can use a variety of different wallets. There are some different features with each wallet but they all perform the same fundamental actions. Here are some of the options available to you that you can compare:
My personal recommendations are to use the Blockchain wallet if you plan on doing most of your transactions through your computer (recommended). You can also download breadwallet in the iOS app store if you plan on doing mobile transactions. Since there is a lot of copy/pasting involved with Bitcoin addresses, I recommend you choose the former over the latter. I will be using the Blockchain wallet for this guide.
Step #2 – Creating your Bitcoin Wallet
If you decide to use the Blockchain wallet I recommended, we will start off by clicking on the green “Create New Blockchain Wallet” button to initiate registration.
Blockchain requires you to enter a recovery e-mail and password. If you do not want to use your primary e-mail, register a fresh one but make sure you remember it’s login information. Your e-mail will never be displayed to anyone. Once you complete the sign-up form, you will be given a Bitcoin address and QR code. Either of these can be used to receive funds. Remember, you never want to attempt to manually type out a Bitcoin address.
Step #3 – Setting up your Bitcoin Wallet Securities
This will be the address that you will give the sportsbook when it comes time to withdraw your funds. Whenever you want someone (or a sportsbook) to send you Bitcoins, you will log-in to your wallet and copy-paste the receiving address that it gives you. Certain wallets will automatically generate new addresses for you every time in order to keep increase anonymity. All newly generated addresses will send funds into the one wallet you created, and old addresses will still work just fine. Each Bitcoin wallet has different levels of security associated with it. You can decide which ones you want to enable:
It is also crucial that you save your wallet ID somewhere you will remember. When you sign out of your account, you will see that the username field is a string of random characters. This is what you will be using to login, along with the password you used during registration. You will have a copy of this ID sent to your recovery e-mail address in the event that you lose it. I would recommend saving the e-mail, and copying the wallet ID into a text document on your computer.
Step #4 – Sending Bitcoins to Sportsbooks (Optional)
This step is only for those of you who will want to complete all of their transactions with Bitcoins. If you plan on using an offshore betting site, you could still deposit funds instantly using a credit card and withdraw them quickly with Bitcoin. I will be using the 5Dimes sportsbook as an example. Start off by going to the deposit interface on an American Bitcoin sportsbetting site and selecting the appropriate option:
You will be prompted to enter the amount of funds you want to deposit (in US currency). Enter the appropriate amount and click submit.
You will then be given a Bitcoin address for you to copy. Websites like 5Dimes that accept a lot of Bitcoin payments will be generating unique addresses for each transaction. So even though payments are anonymous with no personal information, they will know that payments to this address will belong to your account.
Head on over to your wallet and click Send Money. Paste the address the sportsbook gave you into the appropriate field. Next, you will have to indicate how much funds you want to send. You can write this in terms of Bitcoin or US dollars. Since the price of Bitcoin fluctuates, it is easier to list the latter. Go ahead and send it and the funds will be credited to your account in a short period of time. If you used a Bitcoin-only sportsbook like Nitrogen, it will be processed in seconds.
Step #5 – Receiving Bitcoin Funds
When you decide you want to receive a Bitcoin payment you must enter your wallet and copy the receiving address. Never try to copy an old receiving address that you sent to someone. While these old addresses still work, copying the current address on your Blockchain wallet will be the safest option.
Enter the cashier in your American Bitcoin sportsbetting site and select cryptocurrency payouts. Indicate the amount of funds you want to withdraw from your sportsbook balance. Copy your receiving address into the appropriate field. The comments field is not necessary.
You will receive a second confirmation e-mail once the funds are ready to be sent. This is to ensure you sent the right receiving address. Once you have done this confirmation, the funds will arrive in your wallet within the hour.
Step #6 – Converting your Bitcoin into PayPal
The final step for this guide is to figure out what to do with your Bitcoin balance. There are a variety of different ways to approach this. If you are looking to sell your Bitcoins for PayPal, you need to sign-up for an account at LocalBitcoins. This is a website that allows you to trade Bitcoins for other forms of currency. There is an escrow service in which you will send the Bitcoins to be held until the user you are trading with sends you the funds. You will then be able to release the coins to the other user.
One important thing to consider is that while Bitcoin is an irreversible payment method, PayPal is not. That is why LocalBitcoins displays the amount of trades a user has completed on their site, along with their reputation. Make sure you deal with users who have completed at least 1,000 trades, and have a perfect 100% reputation in order to avoid any problems. LocalBitcoins also allows you to swap your Bitcoins for a variety of other currencies including Venmo, Western Union, cash deposit, cash by mail, and Moneygram.
Alternative: Selling your Bitcoins with Coinbase
If the idea of trading directly with other individuals does not appeal to you, Coinbase is an alternative option. Unfortunately this method is a lot slower and limits your available options. It will take approximately one week to sell your Bitcoin, and the only available method is via verified US bank account transfer. I will write a separate article about Coinbase in the near future. They also have a built-in Bitcoin wallet that you can use to send, receive, and store your funds in. This would act as an alternate to Blockchain, but it works just the same.
Conclusion on American Bitcoin Sportsbetting
Cryptocurrency is a rapidly developing industry that is changing the way payments are sent online. The many advantages that Bitcoin bring directly improve how Americans gamble online. Anonymous, instant, and fee-free transactions are three massive benefits for collecting your money from offshore betting sites. While the fundamentals of Bitcoin might seem confusing even to those with adept computer knowledge, you must not let that steer you away from trying it out. Every American betting site is starting to accept Bitcoin as a deposit and withdraw method. In the next five years I predict that the majority of sportsbetting in the United States will be done through Bitcoin. It is time to make the change.
