Bitcoin was one of the main victims of the global crash in stock prices due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, since BTC is fundamentally different from stocks as it doesn’t value itself based on any physical evidence, it was quick to recover as well and has since returned back to its original position.
While the uncertainty of Bitcoin’s rise and fall definitely has its ups and downs, especially if you’re interested in trading it, extreme conditions like these definitely help the case for BTC and other cryptocurrencies as compared to the conventional investment in the stock market.
In addition to that, with more banks and countries continuing to accept BTC as a valid form of currency, things are looking pretty good for the future as well especially as more people realize how fragile the state of the global economy is at the moment.
Another great thing about Bitcoin is that most of the transactions are completely anonymous and secure posing no risk of any invasion of privacy or security. Keeping that in mind, more people have been getting interested in BTC investment lately with the majority going for the simple method of buying it off someone and transferring it into their own wallet.
However, the days of simple Bitcoin trading might become a thing of the past very soon as different online gaming websites have started to spring up that offer you a chance to win Bitcoin without ever needing to delve into the entire trading side of things.
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Now, these gaming sites come in many different shapes and forms, with some being rather peculiar. One of the most popular forms is obviously the gambling sites, with players wagering their already-owned Bitcoins to earn more. This subsection of Bitcoin earning is only for those who consider themselves skilled within the art of Casino winnings and are also feeling luckier than usual.
So, since it is the most popular form of winning and withdrawing Bitcoins, let’s focus on this one first. How does it all work and what do you need to do in order to withdraw your BTC from this form of gaming site?
Injecting BTC into an online gaming site
Since Bitcoin is essentially ‘digital money’ and can be exchanged at literally any time, using it for online gambling, especially for casino games seems like a very obvious thing to do. In addition to that, you don’t have to deal with the hassle of alternating between different currencies.
Before you get into withdrawing your BTC from the gaming site though, you need to make sure that you have a place for the BTC to go to. Since BTC is purely digital, you can’t exactly carry it around with you and thus, are going to need a digital wallet to store it.
While there are many cryptocurrency wallet services around that offer their own sets of specialized services, you should select the one that fits your needs. If you’re new to all of this and cannot figure out which service to use, we suggest using Blockchain to store your cryptocurrency and Coinbase to transfer BTC and other currency.
Creating accounts on both of these services is fairly simple and you just need to follow the on-screen instructions after selecting the sign-up option to get started. Once you’ve successfully created your account, you need to link your bank account with Coinbase so you can buy or sell Bitcoins seamlessly.
Now, you can simply go over to the Buy/Sell tab and start trading. However, you do need to note that most of these transactions will have a small fee that will be cut from your account which is usually around 1.5% so be wary of that before making any purchase decisions.
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Now, you can head over to Blockchain and set up your wallet so that the Bitcoins that you’ve just bought can be easily transferred into your possession. You should also set up a backup recovery phrase in case you lose access to your password or want to import your wallet to another application.
Once that’s all done, you can simply start trading Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies using popular exchanges. Some online gaming sites require you to already have BTC in your account to enter so if you want to play those and earn BTC, you’re going to have to transfer some from your wallet to your account within that game.
In order to transfer BTC to the online gaming site, you need to have BTC in your wallet first. In order to get that done, head over to your wallet, and choose the request tab. The wallet will then generate a copy and share address that you can use to transfer cryptocurrency to your wallet. Go to Coinbase then and click the send button. You’ll be prompted to enter an address which would be the one that you copied earlier from Blockchain.
Verify and confirm all the prompts that you receive and then you should have some BTC to put into online gaming sites in no time. Linking your Blockchain account from there is a piece of cake as you’re only going to need the address that’s provided by the gaming site that you’re trying to deposit your Bitcoin into.
Simply select the send option in your wallet this time around rather than the request and use the address that the gaming site generates for you. The process is pretty much exactly the same as sending cryptocurrency from Coinbase into your wallet with the exception of the sender being your wallet this time around.
As with all other BTC and other cryptocurrency transactions, this will obviously carry a small fee as well so do keep that in mind before you calculate how much Bitcoin you actually want to transfer.
Some websites have this address within their cashier tab where they convert your coins into USD while others can just straight-up accept BTC. Just wait for a while for the transaction to process/go through and voila! Your online gaming site account now has BTC in it and you can play and gamble to earn more.
Withdrawing BTC from the online gaming site
Now, within the gaming sites, there are a number of casino games ranging from the classics like Poker and Blackjack to some more gaming-oriented stuff like Atlantis World or Fruit Zen.
In addition to the online casinos like Bitcasino and Nitrogen Poker, there are many apps out there that let you play conventional games as well in order to earn and then withdraw BTC. For instance, StormX is an app that you can download on your phone and start completing challenges in games like Final Fantasy mobile to earn extra credits that can be used to redeem actual BTC and other cryptocurrencies.
If you feel like you’re good enough to make it in the world of competitive betting and casino games, then you have tons of potential to earn a lot more than any other method. However, with a greater reward also comes greater risk as the possibility of losing money in those games is also pretty high, as it’s in the nature of such games.
So, if you want to be on the safer side and not risk losing anything, you’d be better off doing the other gaming challenges and surveys instead. Sure, you won’t be able to earn loads of BTC in one go but something is still better than nothing and you’ll always be in the positives.
Once you’ve decided what you want to do, it is time to finally set everything up, it is time to start earning some Bitcoin. Let’s fast forward to the part where you have presumably won some stuff and now want to use it for other transactions. How do you exactly withdraw your BTC from an online gaming site and put it back in your wallet so that you can spend your winnings elsewhere?
The process of Bitcoin withdrawal from an online gambling or gaming site is actually pretty straightforward and is almost identical to the process of transferring BTC from trading platforms to your wallet that you’ve already learned above.
So, naturally, the first step is generating a request address from within your wallet that you want to send the money to. Simply head over to your Blockchain wallet and select the request tab. The tab will then present you with a bunch of fields out of which you’re only interested in the copy and share address.
While it is true that you can use the same address multiple times and could also use the one generated above, it would be better if you generate a new one for every transaction since doing that would ensure anonymity and security.
Copy the address that your Blockchain wallet has provided since you’ll be using that very soon to transfer BTC from the online gaming site to yourself. Now go to the online gambling or gaming site and link your account to your blockchain wallet. While every website has a different layout, it will essentially be putting your Blockchain copy and share address into a withdrawal box of some sort.
Once your account is fully linked with your Blockchain wallet, you’ll be able to easily withdraw and extract those BTC winnings out of the online gaming site. Now, you can do whatever you want with it. For instance, if you wish to trade it, send it over to Coinbase or you can also transfer it into your bank account.
Convert BTC into U.S Dollars
While it is true that more mainstream websites now allow you to directly spend cryptocurrency in order to buy things for yourself, including the likes of Microsoft as well, your selection is still pretty limited for the most part. So, what you would want to do is convert those Bitcoin winnings into actual U.S. dollars so that you can spend them freely wherever you want.
Thankfully, Coinbase allows you to do exactly that with relative ease. Just head over to your Coinbase account and select the receive option next to your bitcoin wallet. Now, Coinbase will prompt you with a code, which works exactly the same way as the copy and share address on Blockchain, but the other way around.
On the Blockchain account, simply select the send option and paste the address that Coinbase has given you. Alternatively, you could also just scan the QR code using a mobile phone to perform this procedure. Select the amount of Bitcoin that you wish to transfer over and confirm the transaction.
Once the BTC has been received by your Coinbase account, you can go to the Buy/Sell Bitcoin tab and choose the Sell option. Coinbase will then prompt you to enter the details of your transaction including the amount of Bitcoin that you wish to sell.
Another reminder that as with every other transaction, this will also result in a deduction of a small amount as fees, so Coinbase will be taking a slice out of your pie. Nevertheless, proceed normally with the entire process and you’ll be presented with an estimated date of completion (which is usually the maximum time it will take to process).
Confirm the transaction and your BTC will be converted into U.S. Dollars in no time. Apart from the usual method of doing this using Coinbase, other services like the BitPay Visa Card also allow you to seamlessly transfer BTC into USD using a prepaid debit card.
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Bitcoin has seen its fair share of ups and downs during the years and while the question of it finally becoming a mainstream currency is still unanswered, there are definitely some very lucrative upsides to using it as much as you can. The amount of security, privacy, and anonymity you get while performing BTC and other cryptocurrency transactions is unparalleled.
However, the fact that the value behind Bitcoin continues to be so unpredictable is what is essentially stopping it from going fully mainstream and there really has to be a more stable alternative if we are to really embrace the future of using digital currencies every day.
Nevertheless, progress is still being made slowly but surely and the day is not far when either BTC or another digital currency actually manages to encapsulate the perfect balance between security and stability. Until then, people will continue to use Bitcoins for trading.