Because you live in the US.

Bitcoin Deposits Now Available in Canada

As you know Skrill (Moneybookers) recently announced that they would no longer accept deposits from Canadian customers. In response to these events our payments team has made a new deposit method available for Canadian customers only.

You can use Bitcoin to get funds into your account quickly, easily, and securely. As soon as your deposit is verified the funds will become available in your poker account.

Canadian Virtual Exchange

CaVirtex is the largest exchange in Canada, solely for Canadian customers. Anyone in Canada who has Bitcoins can use the exchange for up to $3,000 CAD without getting verified. Once verified, a customer can link to a bank account for online purchases of Bitcoin. CaVirtex also offers its customers a debit card which they can directly load with CAD$ converted from their Bitcoin balance and then spend anywhere.

To create a Bitcoin exchange account and buy coins, follow this link. CaVirtex will expedite the verification process to set up a Bitcoin account.

For Americas Cardroom's Bitcoin deposit limits, click here.

The Team at Americas Cardroom


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Kahn

So info is leaked 3 weeks in advance and now a real announcement is made and most players won't be able to use it. Way to yank the chain WPN, very nice.

WPN didn't yank the chain, they weren't the ones who made this thread with little to no information.

Very good point sir. I should've been thanking Kahn for this instead.

So, are there plans to extend the option of bitcoin deposits/withdrawals to US customers?

when u guys gonna do bitcoin withdraws?

This - if we can get Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals, that may be enough for me to go back to grinding WPN regularly.

+1

Would love BTC deposits/Withdrawls

whre can i buy these btc?

+1 would play here if they add BTC withdrawl/deposit.

Just a tease?!?

Any updates on bitcoin deposit / withdrawal for US players?

Instant withdrawals? That's too much to ask.

seems like they could be getting a fair few extra players if they made BTC wd and deposit a priority for all players.

Add me to the list that would start playing here if they added bitcoin deposits/withdrawals.

Now that I know how much better bitcoin is at moving money for online poker I don't think I will play on a site without using it.

Can USA players have this option?

If they introduced BTC they wouldn't be able to cover the flood of withdrawals.

This is the only rational I can think of for not using BTC, they want it to be difficult to withdraw but not too difficult and the current status quo might be optimal for them.

Even just on the deposit side though, BTC would simplify things so much for customers and reduce tons of payment processing related costs that ACR pays.

Honestly, even if they just opened up BTC deposits, it would still be a huge step in the right direction. Trying to get money on the site is so hard right now for a new potential player that I can't imagine that more than 50% of the fish who download the software and want to deposit actually make it through the process.

Bitcoin is not a stable currency, it has very little purchasing power and a high risk of electronic theft. Adding it as an option would dilute the value of any real money people have in their accounts.

Intelligent people would withdraw and stop playing on this site if there were a flood of bitcoins entering the game.

Bitcoin is a cute idea but will eventually go the way of the Dutch tulip.

I'm assuming that they would convert the bitcoin to $ or whatever currency they like at the time of deposit and credit your account based on the value of bitcoin at that time.

There are plenty of existing merchant solutions that let you accept bitcoin from customers but get paid as a merchant in dollars with very low fees (eg bitpay) or they could just sell the bitcoins themselves on an exchange the day they receive them. There would be absolutely no need for WPN to actually hold any bitcoin whatsoever.

What your stating as a concern is completely unfounded. Bitcoin is just a much easier way to move money around than sketchy WU transactions and prepaid visas. You don't have to hold it as a currency at all to still get value from the payment network.

Here's how you deposit with BTC:
1. Buy some on an exchange or a service like coinbase, they're like ~$450 now, so let's say you bought 2 BTC
2. Deposit that amount (2 BTC)
3. Get credited ~$900 USD on the network in one hour (!)

Here's how you withdraw with BTC:
1. Withdraw $900 in BTC, let's say price is now $400, you get 2.25 BTC
2. Exchange 2.25 BTC to USD using coinbase or an exchange, get $900 for it
3. Get $900 in your bank account in two or three days (!)

You do experience a 0.3-1.0% fee depending on what you use, coinbase is the highest fee and the most convenient, your exchange of choice

it costs almost nothing to the poker site (no payment processors) and it's very fast, you only incur a slight exchange risk when you're cashing out or depositing (in the time it takes you to get your cash or BTC)

the poker sites normally have to pay 25% to payment processors because of how shady that is or to western union + people who pick things up with a fake ID or whatever
with BTC they can reduce those costs to just someone looking over your account history

you can see this with sealswithclubs who have 1.3% rake compared to industry average 5%

When my bank allows me to exchange bitcoin for USD, bitcoin deposits are FDIC insured and most major retailers accept it as a form of payment then you may have a valid point. Until then it is nothing more than a high risk novelty item.