Bitcoin Breaks $20,000 – What’s Next for Bitcoin Casinos?

If you use Bitcoin to play at Australian online casinos, this is a monumental day for you. BTC cracked the $20,000 barrier today and is hovering at $20,600 at the time of this writing. The global pandemic has impacted gambling but been of benefit to cryptocurrency.

BTC is up close to 200% in 2020 and looks to trend higher. Much of the reason behind this is the institutional adoption of Bitcoin. What might this mean for online casino gambling? Let’s take a look.

Bitcoin Jumps 5.6% to Break $20,000 Mark

Wednesday is a day that most Bitcoin holders have been looking forward to for a while. After a 5.6% jump in price, Bitcoin has broken through the $20,000 barrier and is around $20,600 at the time of this writing.

The pricing data comes from Coin Metrics, and this is effectively a 180% increase for Bitcoin in 2020. Some of the price increase in 2020 has been due to the pandemic. As people are looking for stores of wealth and others looking for cash alternatives, Bitcoin has seen steady gains.

Already seeing #bitcoin articles on Wall Street Journal and NBC after the All Time High break.

They’re all positive.

The Mania phase has begun https://t.co/s4AufyXN7K

— CryptoCon (@CryptoCon_) December 16, 2020

Another reason that the cryptocurrency has seen tremendous gains is that it is receiving widespread institutional attention. Certain investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones are putting assets into BTC. Also, tech firms MicroStrategy and Square are purchasing BTC.

Those that follow crypto closely say that the rise in price this year is not like what happened in 2017. If you remember then, Bitcoin flirted with $20,000 before a monumental crash that saw it plummet to around $3,000.

It appears that institutional attention and buying are fueling the current rally rather than speculation by investors and HODLers. According to eToro co-founder and CEO Yoni Assia, ″$20,000 is undoubtedly a momentous milestone for Bitcoin. We have seen a significant shift in the demographic of those interested and invested in crypto. No longer the domain of just computer programmers and fintech advocates.”

How Will This Impact Online Gambling?

The rise of Bitcoin to over $20,000 will have various impacts on online casinos offering Bitcoin deposits. First, we do expect to see a bit of a run on the bank in terms of Bitcoin. Americas Cardroom has reported that they’ve had to purchase massive amounts of Bitcoin to cover the demand from players wanting to cash out.

Some players who have held BTC for a while or earned sizable amounts of BTC at online casinos will look to cash out their crypto in hopes of selling it on an exchange. For example, let’s say you started playing at online casinos when BTC was at $5,000. You might want to cash out and take the massive gains. Others will cash out and start HODLing their crypto in order to secure gains.

Bitcoin gambling sites growing: https://t.co/Hpop6xTqkl

Bitcoin gambling sites are growing so fast. Clients are used to the crypto and have more security and privacy while playing gambling games online.

Check the post for more information.#Bitcoin #bitcoin20k #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/KjJEvnmdoZ

— Alex (@casinob) December 16, 2020

Next, you may see delays on both deposits and withdrawals of BTC. Back during the original Bitcoin Boom, transactions on the BTC blockchain slowed to a crawl. There have been some delays this year on the Blockchain, so expect much of the same to happen now.

You may see some casinos put a limit on how much Bitcoin you can withdraw at one time. Some casinos will have to scramble to acquire enough BTC to meet cashout demands. This is particularly true for casinos that accept deposits in fiat but allow the same players to cash out in BTC.

Is Another Bitcoin Bubble on the Horizon

The big question on the minds of some crypto investors is whether Bitcoin is about to experience another bubble. Remember back to 2017 when BTC crashed? There are some fearing the same will happen again.

The honest answer is that you should expect a pullback from Bitcoin. That’s based on its history. In the past, BTC has always had ebbs and flows that have seen it make massive gains followed by massive dips. You can expect similar this time.

However, will the dip be as massive as before? Based on the fact that institutional investors are now investing heavily into Bitcoin, the chances of a mega drop is lower than usual. We could see it drop several thousand, but don’t expect it to drop below $10,000 anytime soon. As always, time will tell.