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The Lightning Network & Online Casinos Explained

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In this article, we are going to explore the exciting new lightning network feature, what it could mean for Crypto casinos and how these casinos could become the next big thing in the world of online gambling. We will get into more detail later but basically the ‘lightning chain’ is a way to speed up transactions for players using crypto that previously were taking a long time to process. Fees were also becoming very high for these transactions and the new network will shrink these massively. Great news for crypto players! Now let’s get into how this has all come about.

The Problem? Crypto Casinos Faced Delays and Costly Fees

Before we look into online casinos and how the lightning network will work it is first important to understand where this network has come from and why it is necessary. For a lot of people this might be a new concept to them so let’s have a little history lesson to get you up to speed. Back in 2017 Bitcoin ran into quite a big problem which caused issues for the market and anyone that possessed the cryptocurrency. Basically, transactions were taking too long to be completed which in turn led to higher fees to get these transactions completed. Each block of the coin has a certain amount of space for a certain number of transactions and what was happening was transaction requests were coming in faster than the coin could be mined. The problem here is miners are paid the transaction fees so if Bitcoin owners wanted a transaction to be processed faster, they would pay higher fees, and the higher the fee the higher up the queue their transaction would jump which of course led to all sorts of problems for bitcoin casinos and their users.

What is The Lightning Network?

So how does the Lightning chain work? Well, a basic summary is transactions are taken off the blockchain to ‘lightning channels’ here and an infinite number of transactions can take place for way smaller fees and it doesn’t upset the integrity of the currency.

The Solution? Rapid Online Casino Transactions

So, online casinos and the lightning network seem like a perfect marriage now, right? Crypto casinos and their players no longer have to worry about long delays and big fees now they can compete with the time frames of traditional payment methods and in a lot of cases, they can even process transactions faster. There will be some growing pains of course as these lightning casinos try to catch up with Bitcoin casinos. As with everything Crypto, this is a new technology so we are unsure if problems will arise but a very good sign is Cash App enabling payments through their app, we will get into that below. Another thing players will have to practice is patience. Veterans of the Crypto casino world will remember how long it took for mainstream casinos to adopt Crypto as a payment method and how frustrating that was. The hope is though now we already have Crypto casinos and Bitcoin casinos that this transition will be much faster and we will see a lot more Lightning network online casinos very soon.

CashApp & Lightning Network: A Crypto Player’s Dream.

Now onto how Cash App is relevant to all of this. For those that aren’t familiar the clue is in the name, Cash App is a way to send people money instantly on an app. However, what is important here is you can also use your Cash App to pay for goods and services at a physical or virtual terminal. Cash App has a huge reach across North America, especially of online casino US players – just like apps like Revolut do in Europe so theoretically this could make Crypto just as accessible as traditional methods of payment. Now when it comes to these casinos and the lightning network it is pretty easy to put 2 plus 2 together here. If Cash App has taken this step hopefully others will follow and Cash App having taken the initiative on their end will make it much easier for Crypto casinos to make the change to Lightning network casinos which will benefit all involved but especially their players. 

Do Lightning Network Online Casinos Improve The Experience?

So, we have looked at plenty of reasons why this new development is great for Crypto holders and we can deduce fairly easily why it will be good for casino players but let’s take a more in-depth look at why the marriage of online casinos and the lightning network could be a beautiful one. The time limit factor is of course massive, at the moment at Bitcoin casinos you can be waiting around for 10 minutes for your deposit to go through. This can be extremely frustrating as a lot of players probably cannot spare the constant hold-ups needed to play with Crypto. Even more importantly the hope is that with these casinos the transaction fees will be minuscule or even nonexistent like they are with Cash App. Fees for playing at Bitcoin casinos is a huge determent at the moment so Crypto casinos could transform all this and change the way we gamble online.

Another very good reason to be excited about casinos and the lightning network is security. We haven’t seen this reported or talked about much but the fact that the transactions take place off the chain means there is a certain level of privacy and only the initial deposit and final withdrawal will be visible. What’s funny about this is it can make Crypto casinos similar to real-life casinos. It’s just like when you go into a casino and buy your chips the dealer sees the money you give them but doesn’t see your bets in the casino, they only see you again when you cash in your chips (or exit having lost them all if you’re me) which is the exact same thing that’ll happen with these new casinos.

A Small Market With Big Ambitions For The Future

So, to finish we hope we have explained a complicated process as well as we can. When it all boils down it’s quite simple Lightning online casinos are a win-win for everyone. Fees and transaction times more or less disappear and you even add in more privacy for the players. The whole process is very young so not many Bitcoin casinos or Crypto casinos have adapted it yet but they are surely looking into it as they would be crazy not to!

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