Bitcoin has found success in many markets, but the growth in the online gaming industry has perhaps been the most marked in recent years. Why is it that this industry seems to lend itself so perfectly to Bitcoin as a currency? Could it be its increased privacy and safety? Its anonymity, or its transaction speed? We will discuss the attributes of Bitcoin that make it the obvious choice for online gaming providers. Bitcoin as a Work Around for Unreleased Content In the US and UK in particular, most of the hotly anticipated games tend to be released early. If you live in the UK or US then that’s great, but if you live in parts of the world where the release date could drag on, perhaps indefinitely, then it can be very frustrating. Bitcoin answers to no central bank, so players from around the world are able to use the currency to pay for online games. This means that anybody with access to a computer and stable internet connection, can get their hands on content from providers who allow Bitcoin payments. This decentralisation levels the playing field for everyone, creating a fairer community, globally, for players. Increased Safety for Players With the increasingly sophisticated hacking methods in use nowadays, a primary concern for many online gaming players is that the wrong people could get their hands on their data. Scandals appear almost weekly, involving huge amounts of data that could have been compromised. One currency th...
