Safety in the digital sphere is a number one concern for many of us, and with good reason. Phishing and online scams are on the rise, with as many as one in every 99 emails being a phishing attack. Around 36% of data breaches involve phishing. Cryptocurrency betting is one of the newer online activities, so it’s natural to wonder whether it’s safe to bet on these sites. Today, we’re going to look at some of the most important things to look out for when betting on crypto sites in order to keep yourself safe.
Let’s get started.
1. Regulation
Firstly, you’ll want to look at and read up on local regulation around cryptocurrencies. Many governments currently do not regulate crypto betting at all. This means that you can be putting yourself at risk by signing up to one of these sites, with little to no legal recourse in the case that something goes wrong.
On the other hand, if you live in an area where it is regulated, then all you need to do is find out that the site you’re looking at is licensed and regulated by the relevant authority. If it is, then you can be pretty sure that your betting is safe and you are covered by all the same consumer protections you would get elsewhere.
2. Crypto stability
One of the other major concerns that people have with crypto betting is the stability of the coins. There are a wide variety of available cryptocurrencies, and for the biggest and most popular, the value can spike and fall without any apparent rhyme or reason.
This can have implications for your betting, since you may worry that funds you win could lose value.
There are solutions to this, though. Multiple stable coins have been introduced which maintain their value at 1:1 based on a fiat currency.
But even for the bigger cryptos, you are generally not at risk as long as you cash out as soon and as often as you can. This keeps the value of anything you’ve already bought from changing.
3. Site security
Next, you’ll want to make sure of the security features that your site makes use of. This is the best way to know you are safe from any outside, malicious hackers looking for data or financial information.
This includes things like database firewalls, and account security features like 2FA. When compared to betting sites that accept PayPal, crypto payment processor don’t offer any “buyer guarantees” or means for opening disputes should you have an issue.
Again, though, any crypto site is bound by the same regulations if it is licensed by the relevant authority—these regulations always include security.
4. Anonymity
In one way, crypto betting sites are even safer than traditional currency betting sites. This is because anonymity is built in. You don’t need to link your personal bank account or any other financial details with the site beyond a crypto wallet.
This means that, even if the site were compromised, there’s very little the hackers could actually learn about you. In that sense, crypto betting is a lot safer, and anonymity online is more important than ever to people today.
Putting your financial information on a site always carries a small risk—crypto casinos do away with that entirely.
So, there are in fact a number of ways that crypto betting sites are actually safer than traditional betting sites. However, there is all the same phishing scams and illegal sites that you would find in the typical betting sphere. So, it’s ultimately important that you keep an eye out for the basics, and if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll never fall victim to an unsafe crypto betting site.
