I'm looking for an alternative to coinbase?

kraken

blockchain

It certainly works well for me.

Yep. All the time for me, once I've logged in that day. Not a problem.

Thanks for the reply, goodsaint. I finally received a verification code and was able to log in. What a sweat!

I know I SHOULD use an intermediate wallet between a poker room and exchange... but does anyone know if Kraken is as strict/diligent as Coinbase if I were to send directly to them? I wouldn't be cashing out for USD, but trading the BTC for other crypto

I'm sure this has been explained a million times in this thread but can someone explain what this means?

I just started using Coinbase for withdrawing out of Bovada. It goes straight from Bovada to Coinbase. Am I doing it wrong? What are the negative effects of doing it this way? So far I haven't had any issues other than Coinbase charges a small fee. Thanks to ever can answer this.

Coinbase actively monitors addresses that belong to gambling sites and tries to link them to customer accounts, so doing things this way may lead to getting your Coinbase account closed if Bovada's security protocol is loose. You won't have any issues up until the point Coinbase suddenly decides they don't want your business anymore.

Up to you how much you care about this, it was an easier decision when BTC transaction fees were low.

Also, Coinbase recently lost a case against the IRS requiring them to turn over account info for accounts over a certain volume. I doubt many of us here meet that limit, so nothing there, but I would guess that means they will start looking even closer at these kinds of transactions to keep them out of trouble.

Something I have been thinking a lot about lately. I would say close to all of the poker players in the USA use Bitcoin at this point, the number I would imagine would have to be in the 90 percent. There are not that many players playing online poker on sites allowed in the US anymore, but there still is potentially enough to drive the price? Could another black Friday type event cause bitcoin to crash? If they seized ACR, Betonline, Bovada, could this possibly dramatically effect the price of bitcoin?

No. We're a super-tiny portion of the market, even for gambling, much less for all of BTC. And the USD-denominated sites don't hold any.

You're right... I have a pretty big position in btc I get paranoid...

Even if it were a thing, it probably wouldn't make the top 100 list of reasons btc might crash right now.

I cashed out my tax-ideal amount yesterday and I'm pondering what to do about the rest.

Was thinking about depositing a couple of thousand from CB > BC > Poker site but it appears if I do that I will take a beating because BTC on BC is currently a lot less than CB. Also, I now hear Bitpay and CB are sending out some unsettling emails to some players. What the heck is going on?

***EDIT*** At this very second BTC on BC is now worth a little more than on CB. Crazy!

I think if you think this through you will see that it doesn't make any sense.

The USD value quote on Blockchain.info is completely meaningless, by the way. They're not an exchange and no one uses it for anything. Most poker sites are using the Bitstamp quote afaik.

It doesnt matter what the intermediary price is. You buy 1 BTC from CB and send it to BC. You still have 1 BTC on BC minus the fees. All that matters after that is the rate that the site is using. If they are using a rate lower than CB, then on you are obviously losing a little bit on the deposit. If the site has a better rate then CB, then you are gaining on the deposit. The price on BC is pointless.

What are the options for playing with crypto? I like the idea, but I don't know what sites there are, how safe they are etc... Can you only play with bitcoin and how does that work exactly?

Apologies if this is buried somewhere in this long thread already, but some of the info seems out of date already.

Yeah, these things move really fast. I found two new-to-me sites in the last two days.

If you want to play with crypto natively, the options are SwCPoker (BTC), Nitrogen Sports (BTC), and I think Poker Shibes is still around (DOGE). Then there are a few extremely tiny sites.

Both SwC and Nitrogen denominate their games in mBTC (0.001 BTC) and it plays just like any other game except the currency is different.

As for safe, those sites have been around for quite a while and have a good cashout history. Other safety issues are more questionable, and it might help if you're more specific about what your concern is. Personally I only play headsup or MTTs on these sites unless I'm just donking about at micros, or I know all the players.

There are also lots of sites now that denominate play in USD but will happily let you move money in and out with cryptocurrencies. It's more common than not.

Thank you for the response, it's very helpful.

I guess my concern was just that you're moving crypto to the site's wallet effectively and then hoping that they're wallet is secure. I guess that's much the same as depositing cash on conventional sites, though.

I'm in the UK, and don't have too many issues playing online poker, but are there any problems with residence on these sites?

Thank you guys so much for clearing this up for me! It just goes to show you how much I still have to learn about all of this.

Yeah, I mean, Full Tilt and Absolute/UB didn't keep anybody's money on hand. Bitcoin gambling sites have had issues with wallets getting hacked, but it's actually happened enough that there are fairly standard best practices now that limit the risk.

I feel like if you're in the UK and have the option of playing on regulated sites with decent traffic you should stick to them. Crypto sites aren't filling very many needs right now, mostly for those of us who have to play under the table or have cryptocurrencies already.

Hey all,
The folks at ACR are pushing bitcoin pretty hard. Their claim is that bitcoin is now the preferred funding/withdrawal method of players. Is this accurate or are they just pushing a new option?

Also, how much risk is involved in using bitcoin? For instance, if I were to cash out $2500 from ACR into a bitcoin wallet, then attempt to get USD from that wallet, how much chance is there that, in the interim, bitcoin will tank and my $2500 looks more like $700 (or whatever)? Any preferred bitcoin wallets? Thanks.

IMHO, Bitcoin is the easiest way to deposit and withdraw from poker sites right now. and i don't think bitcoin will crash that fast, just make sure to withdraw regularly.


the best way would be coinbase=>blockchain=>poker sites and vise versa

I see no reason why this shouldn't be accurate. BTC is way easier on US-facing sites than any of the shady options for moving USD. (Barring Global and their magical Paypal logic.) It's not a new deposit method at ACR, they've had it for two years or so.

Risk assessment is up to you. If Coinbase is working, it only takes a couple of hours to move from WPN USD to bank account USD. BTC is high variance but it's never instafallen to the degree in your example. My personal opinion right now is that we're likely to see another long period of stability around 13-14k. But my personal opinion isn't worth a whole lot.

For desktop wallets I prefer Electrum. Online you might as well use blockchain.info.

Google "Bitcoin ATM near me." If you have a 2-way one (buy OR sell BTC) ...You can literally get cash in hand, same day, that you cash out of an online poker site. What an age we live in.