Some day, online gamblers could put away their credit cards and use a radically different method of payment. That, at least, is the hope of the promoters of the upcoming Bitcoin4iGaming conference, who want to demystify the use of bitcoins and similar digital currencies.
The one-day conference, expected to attract 200 attendees from the online gaming and digital currency industries, will be held on 24 November 2014 in London’s Dexter House, which (not coincidentally) was the site of the Royal Mint until 1968.
Unlike the coins that were minted there for nearly 160 years, bitcoins are not backed by any government. Instead, their purchasing power derives from the shared belief of users in their value.
Also unlike metal coins, bitcoins exist only in the digital realm. They are “mined” by computers performing complex calculations, then stored and traded via virtual online wallets.
Proponents of bitcoin usage think we are on the verge of a significant change. They point to the 1960s as a turning point from a cash and cheque economy to one where credit card usage became common. They predict a similar turning point in our era from credit cards to digital currencies.
Whether that happens remains to be seen. BitScan.com calculated that less than 2.5 million people use bitcoins worldwide, and more than half of those have accounts that are nearly empty. Getting more people to adopt virtual currencies is an uphill battle.
It doesn’t help that there has been a series of high-profile bitcoin catastrophes, including the collapse of a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange where hundreds of millions of pounds worth of bitcoins were lost amid allegations of theft and fraud.
The Bitcoin4iGaming conference speakers hope to allay people’s fears by directly addressing past bitcoin disasters and by discussing the advantages, including freedom from processing fees and the currency’s popularity among some gamblers. Speakers will also provide practical information on how to implement bitcoin usage in online casinos.
