While most industries were reluctant to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method, multiple online poker sites were quick to jump on the bandwagon. Some iPoker rooms offered popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as a means of payment, while some operators decided to launch exclusive crypto friendly poker rooms which did not accept fiat currencies.
How Bitcoin Boosted Crypto Poker Rooms
Cryptocurrencies have now been around close to a decade but they are now more popular more than ever. Bitcoin which is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency has to take a lot of credit for boosting the popularity of crypto friendly poker rooms. Bitcoin skyrocketed in 2018 from $2,000 to $20,000 and saw a flurry of interest in bitcoin friendly poker rooms.
When bitcoin slumped back to $4,000, lots of poker players lost interest in crypto friendly rooms as some did not want the stress of playing with such a volatile cryptocurrency. However, BTC generated a lot more attention in 2021 as bitcoin skyrocketed and ended up crossing the $50,000 mark and eventually the $60,000 mark in April 2021.
Bitcoin poker rooms admitted that they were experiencing a flurry of new player registrations as players from around the world wanted the opportunity to play and win in bitcoin. With BTC appreciating at a rapid pace in 2021, just about every poker player wanted to get their hands on Bitcoin.
The popularity of BTC also helped boost the value of numerous other cryptocurrencies including ETH, Dogecoin, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Multiple online poker rooms expanded their crypto section and started to give players the option to also make deposits and withdrawals with Dogecoin, ETH, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
The global crypto market has done extremely well in the first quarter of 2021 as it wasn’t just the top 10 cryptocurrencies that experienced a significant spike in value. A number of altcoins such as Cardano, Vechain, Chilliz and Chainlink have done very well for themselves and made tons of investors lots of poker.
With the crypto world generating a lot of buzz in 2021, poker players who were earlier not interested in crypto currencies started to pay more attention to crypto and get involved in building their crypto account. Millions of poker players learned that they could win cash in bitcoin and use it to invest in other cryptocurrencies and build their portfolio.
Some poker rooms like Americas Cardroom reported high volumes of bitcoin transactions and was forced to buy more BTC on a daily basis to cover the high BTC withdrawal requests.
Crypto Crash In May Boosts Interest Even More
The crypto market plunged mid-May as BTC dropped from $60,000 to $36,000. BTC wasn’t the only cryptocurrency to experience a dramatic fall in prices as the entire crypto market took a plunge. The sudden drop in crypto prices was due to a couple of factors. Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted his disapproval of bitcoin consuming so much energy through bitcoin mining and the negative impact it was having on the environment. Few days later, China announced that it would stop banks and financial institutions from engaging with crypto.
The market responded negatively and crypto poker players who had invested in different cryptocurrencies saw their portfolio drop by more than 50 percent. However, this time around crypto poker players were better equipped to handle the massive fluctuation and instead of panicking, they continued to play even more as it was a chance for them to buy and win bitcoin on the dip.
The dip allowed poker players who did not have any bitcoin or ETH to get buy some and use it to play at crypto friendly rooms. The action at crypto poker rooms did not experience a massive drops as crypto poker players have now become more accustomed to the highs and lows of being a crypto investor and a crypto poker player.
