Chico Network Introduces Litecoin Support
Cryptocurrency Litecoin Added to BetOnline and Sportsbetting.ag
Poker players who support anonymous, decentralized currencies have cause to rejoice as Litecoin has been added to the cashier options at Chico Poker Network sites BetOnline and Sportsbetting.ag. Both companies had earlier enabled Bitcoin as a deposit and withdrawal option in March 2015. This decision marks the first time that a large, mainstream online card room in the top 15, has elected to sponsor the use of Litecoin although several niche, cryptocurrency-only poker sites do employ this method of payment processing. Americans are welcome to create a new account at either Sportsbetting.ag or BetOnline.
BetOnline and Sportsbetting.ag Litecoin Details
BetOnline and Sportsbetting.ag allow Litecoin payouts between the values of $20 and $10,000, which is consistent with their bitcoin limits. Winners can therefore request twice as much money through LTC and BTC versus other sites such as Ignition Casino. When it comes to deposits, both BetOnline and Sportsbetting.ag let you to put up to $10,000 into your account balance at one time with either Bitcoin or Litecoin. For Bitcoin and Litecoin deposits, neither site demands extra documentation. Initial Litecoin and Bitcoin payouts at either site might require that the user submit proof of identity, a standard practice in the online gambling industry.
After depositing Bitcoin or Litecoin, the value of your transaction will be converted into USD to use at the actual poker tables. This is because the Chico Poker Network conducts all gaming in US dollars regardless of the currency used to fund a user’s account. When it’s time to cashout, this process is reversed; the account holder’s USD-denominated funds will be exchanged for either BTC or LTC as the case may be, at prevailing market rates (in our experience these rates are often very close to the benchmark Coinbase rate).
What is Litecoin?
Litecoin is a digital currency in the mold of Bitcoin, and in fact, it’s often referred to as Bitcoin’s little brother or the silver of cryptocurrency (bitcoin being the gold standard). It is indeed a smaller network than BTC both in terms of market capitalization ($450 million vs. $19 billion for BTC at the time of this writing) and the value of each coin ($8.96 vs. $1,206). Litecoin started life in October 2011, about three years after the debut of Bitcoin. Is employs a blockchain, just like Bitcoin does, but it offers faster block generation and a higher cap on the total number of coins in existence. Unlike Bitcoin, which was the brainchild of the shadowy and anonymous Satoshi Nakomoto, we know the identity of Litecoin’s creator: former Google worker Charles Lee. Litecoin uses the memory-intensive Scrypt algorithm as opposed to the SHA-256 algo of Bitcoin, which is more GPU-intensive.
For regular users, the main advantage of Litecoin is faster transaction confirmations. There’s also the benefit of being able to hold a diversified portfolio in case something goes wrong with Bitcoin at some point. Finally, some people feel more comfortable with a currency where purchasing a single coin doesn’t represent a significant investment, but this is mostly a psychological phenomenon as both BTC and LTC are basically infinitely divisible for all practical purposes. In terms of total value on the open market, Litcoin is currently the #4 cryptocurrency:
- Bitcoin (BTC): $19.6 billion
- Ethereum (ETH): $3.9 billion
- Ripple (XRP): $1.2 billion
- Litecoin (LTC): $450 million
- Dash (DASH): $432 million
- Monero (XMR): $306million
How to Acquire Litecoins
While they’re not as frequently traded as bitcoins, litecoins can be bought and sold at several reputable exchanges. We recommend GDAX, which is a partner of Coinbase, and Kraken. These exchanges allow you to transact between USD and LTC without using BTC as an intermediary. Both of these places permit you to buy and sell bitcoins as well.
About BetOnline and Sportsbetting.ag
Both Sportsbetting.ag and BetOnline serve U.S. residents as well as players from most countries around the world. The Chico Poker Network of which they are two of the main skins, has the third-largest player volume among all options open to American pokerists and is in the top fifteen poker networks in the world.
There are plenty of Texas Hold’em cash tables as well as Pot Limit Omaha games. Tournaments and SNGs round out the selection of poker games. Poker sites like these that have joined the digital currency revolution are beloved by United States-based gamblers who would otherwise have to wait a long time to have their withdrawals processed. Apart from poker, both gambling operators also spread casino games and offer a comprehensive sportsbook among other wagering possibilities. You’ll get a 100% up to $2,500 bonus on your first deposit of at least $50 whether you use Litecoin, Bitcoin or a more traditional method to put money into your account.