Ever since the online gambling industry embraced crypto, new digital currencies have risen in popularity, the latest one being Polkadot. Polkadot is essentially a decentralized, open-source multichain protocol that allows the transfer of not just tokens but also any data and asset types, creating a wide range of blockchains to be interoperable with each other. Due to this convenience, it has entered the world of online gambling with ease and is already offered across a dozen of online casino sites. What is Polkadot and why use it across online casinos?
About Polkadot
As introduced, Polkadot is a multichain protocol, a decentralized and open-source web, which is controlled by its users and allows multiple blockchains to interoperate with each other and simplify the creation of new services, apps and institutions. It connects independent blockchains and allows them to share transactions and information through the Relay Chain, which is at its core, helping to create interoperability, consensus and shared security across different chains. It actually connects oracles, permissionless networks, private and public chains and future technologies.
It serves three purposes: creating parachains (independent chains that can be optimized for specific use cases and have their own tokens) by bonding, and providing network operations and guidance. In addition to the Relay Chain and parachains, it has two other core components, the parathread, which is similar to parachains but based on the pay-as-you-go model, more flexible, and bridges, which allow these parachains and parathreads to communicate with external blockchains, like Ethereum.
Speaking of Ethereum, it was founded by one of the co-founders of Ethereum, Dr Gavin Wood, the creator of Solidity, the smart contract coding, and the founder of Parity Technologies. The two other founders are Peter Czaban, specialized in FinTech industries, and Robert Habermeier, Thiel Fellow and an accomplished cryptography and blockchain developer and researcher. These three founded Web3 Foundation, the name behind the network, and first launched it in 2020.
Due to the fact that Polkadot has parallel processing power, meaning it allows the processing of many transactions on several chains, it improves scalability. Its native token is the DOT, and currently, there are 1 billion DOTs circulating. The network is secured with the nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) mechanism, which maximizes chain security as it selects nominators and validators. Chains interact with each other under the same rules and scale their transactions by spreading their data across the many parachains.
Reading what you just read, you have probably created a picture in your head about how awesome this solution can be, especially for online gambling transactions. And as such, it started becoming accepted across the very best crypto sites. At the moment of writing, over a dozen of sites accept it, but more will surely add it in the future. Let's see how to get started with it and use it as your payment method.
How To Purchase Polkadot & Getting Started
If you’ve ever purchased crypto, you’ll know what to do with DOT. The token has been added to the Coinbase cryptocurrency trading platform in June 2021, so if you explore its crypto exchanges page, you will find many top exchanges that offer the token, such as Binance, Kraken, HBTC, Huobi Global and OKEx.
The first step would be creating an account with the exchange platform. You can do that in a few simple steps, by providing your valid email address and creating a username and password. After you provide your name, country of residence, birth date and phone number, you’ll have verified your account. Now, if you want to purchase your crypto using cash, fiat currencies such as US dollars or euro, you would need to attach additional documents to verify your identity.
Depending on the exchange platform you join, you’ll be able to fund your account in a number of ways, using many popular payment methods like credit cards, debit cards and eWallets. After your account has been funded, you’ll just need to specify the amount of DOTs you’d want to buy and provide the equivalent fiat currency amount to complete the purchase.
After you’ve purchased your DOTs, you would need to create a crypto wallet to safely store them. You have plenty of wallet types to choose from, and after you create your wallet, you’ll get your public and private keys required to make transactions with your newly-purchased crypto.
How to Make a Deposit with Polkadot at an Online Casino?
Now that you know all the powerful things Polkadot can offer, and the fact that it is incredibly easy to get started with, you are ready to explore the online casino sites that accept it. As pointed out earlier, Polkadot has risen in popularity over the past year, and over a dozen online casinos are already offering it as a payment method. Check out some of those sites to find the one that would suit you best in terms of games and promotions offered. Join the site and you can make your first deposit.
To fund your online casino balance using DOT, you would need to do the following:
- Go to the casino’s Banking/Deposits/Cashier page.
- Look for DOT’s logo and click or tap on it.
- Enter the address of your wallet in the designated field and then specify how much you’d like to deposit on your casino balance.
- Confirm the transaction and the tokens will arrive immediately.
How to Make a Withdrawal with It?
You can make safe and fast withdrawals with DOTs from your online casino balance, too. You would need to go through the same steps, only this time, you’d need to specify your wallet address and then the amount you’d like to withdraw.
After the casino approves your request, it will send you your coins back to your wallet. From there on, you can store them, trade them, sell them as you wish, or cash them out in fiat currency.
Applicable Fees
Fees do apply for using some of the Polkadot services, in order to prevent users from abusing its resources. You can go to its official website, and in the Docs section learn all about the fees involved.
Keep in mind that the exchange platforms will charge a small fee for each DOT purchase you make, too.
Accepted Countries
As a decentralized, open-source protocol, Polkadot is available virtually everywhere across the globe. Its community is spread over 50 countries worldwide, but the token can be used by anyone, from anywhere across the world.
Keep in mind that your country might not allow cryptocurrencies transactions. Some countries have been explicit about the illegitimacy of such transactions and have banned crypto, so before you dare to use it, make sure you discover more about your country’s stand on cryptocurrencies.
Available Currencies
You can basically purchase your DOTs in any fiat currency available out there, depending on the exchange platform you join.
For instance, Binance accepts over 150 fiat currencies, so the currency of your country is probably accepted. If not, you can always opt for some of the most used currencies like the US dollar or euro to purchase your DOTs, for a currency conversion fee, of course.
Customer Service and Support Options
You know that the rule of thumb when using cryptocurrencies across online casinos is that whenever you come across a problem, you first need to contact the casino’s Customer Support team.
However, in case you want to find out more about this incredible network, you can visit its official website and get in touch with the Polkadot team. For general chats, use Discord or Watercooler. For any other inquiries, you could always click or tap on the support.polkadot.network link and you’ll be immediately connected to one of the representatives, eager to help you understand all about the crypto.
