CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE
Do Gamers Who Use Bitcoin Know Something Most of Us Don’t Know?
One of the most amazing developments in online casino gaming is the rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. You can play online games at Everygame Casino with bitcoin and litecoin, two of the dozens of cryptocurrencies that are now in circulation.
In this article, we will talk about the importance of cryptocurrencies in gaming and in commerce generally and why the rise in their use may have serious political and economic ramifications far removed by the world of online gaming. In other words, we try to answer the question: Are cryptocurrencies the canary in the coal mine for government money?
What is a Cryptocurrency?
The first thing we need to understand is that the term cryptocurrency was created to make bitcoin and the like even more inscrutable than they already were. In fact, these are currencies in every way! In their use for buying and selling goods and services, these currencies are no different than government currencies.
What is Money?
The classic definition of money is something that can be used as a medium of exchange. That means that you can use money to buy and sell things. So, why is government money considered to be a good medium of exchange and chocolate cream pie is not?
Well, chocolate cream pie is not permanent; the pie will spoil if it isn’t eaten. A spoiled chocolate cream pie would logically have no value as a medium of exchange and an eaten pie would also have no value as a medium of exchange.
So, one of the most important requirement for money is its durability. In this way nails, steel rods, and razor wire could all be mediums of exchange based on their durability. However, they are all heavy and razor wire is very sharp. You wouldn’t want to try to take some razor wire out of your pocket in order to buy a delicious chocolate cream pie!
An Apocryphal Story about Gold
So, a second major criterion for money is portability. That means that you can carry it easily. When there was relatively little money in circulation, people could carry gold coins as their medium of exchange. There is a wonderful story told about a rich man who carried a bag of gold coins to the market in his area.
The man accidentally left the bag of coins somewhere and a very honest but poor man found it and asked around as to the bag’s owner. The rich man said that it was his bag.
Then he brought the poor man up on charges that he had stolen half of the gold coins that were in the bag. The case came before a judge. The rich man said that he had 200 gold coins in the bag and that the other man had stolen half of them. The poor man who had found and returned the bag said that he had not stolen any coins from the bag.
The judge decreed that he believed both men. He believed the rich man that he had lost a bag with 200 gold coins and he believed the poor man that he had not stolen any coins. So, logically, the bag the poor man found could not have been the bag the rich man lost and he returned the bag to the poor man!
This story points out the durability of gold. 200 gold coins remained 200 gold coins - lost, stolen or... not.
Let’s Find a Better Name for Cryptocurrencies
We suggest alternative currencies as the new, more likeable name for bitcoin and the like. Now we need to understand how these alternative currencies work.
People are confused by the idea that alternative currencies are “digital”. These people are comfortable with credit cards which are also digital representations of money. The reason we so easily accept credit cards and find the other alternative currencies hard to fathom is that we are used to buying and selling with government money and credit cards are just another manifestation of government money.
Bitcoin is Different
Bitcoin never existed as gold coins in the past. Bitcoin never was a currency that people could carry in their pockets. Bitcoin were not used to expand a nation as gold was used in many countries over the millennia. Bitcoin started as digital currency. It is exchanged only on the internet.
Whereas gold is mined and has many uses in addition to its use as money, bitcoins are only mined in the imagination of its creators. People are wary of a medium of exchange that can “disappear” if the internet goes down. People are wary of a currency that depends on the reliability of faceless “miners” for the currencies’ enduring value.
Fear of Government Money
Bitcoins actually prey upon a real and tangible fear that many people have toward government money. Whereas in the past, government money either was gold and silver or was backed by gold and silver, today government money is just paper backed by the reliability of politicians.
A lot of people are very afraid that government money will stop having any value at all. These people are often called preppers in western countries. They are preparing for the demise of government money. One of the things these people stockpile is coins from gold and silver. They believe that after the currency crisis that they see as inevitable, only gold and silver cons will be accepted universally as mediums of exchange.
Some people are also stockpiling such items as canned goods, matches, firewood, foods that can last a long time without spoiling, and other items that they might use locally as mediums of exchange in a future crisis.
And some people are buying bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies in order to be prepared for the downfall of government money.
Bitcoin as an Online Casino Medium of Exchange
We finally come full circle in our discussion about alternative or complementary currencies. There are by now enough gamers at Everygame Casino Red to justify the casino accepting alternative currencies.
Preppers don’t stockpile bitcoin since they feel that the internet will crash in the massive crisis to come. But many people do feel that having some bitcoin or other alternative currency is a good idea. Until they actually need the bitcoin they have, these people also like to play online casino games at Everygame Casino.
So, we at Everygame are happy to accommodate them in their desire to use alternative currencies for banking at the casino.
It is quite unlikely that bitcoin will replace gold and silver as the primary medium of exchange in the very near future. What bitcoin does represent is that some people are already hearing the canary in the currency mine even though most people do not hear it yet.
