Springbok Accepts Bitcoin

There not many people in this world who’ve never heard of Bitcoin, though more than a few don’t fully understand what it is and how it functions. The so-called cryptocurrency is in fact a new form of money which is created and held digitally. As it’s not owned by any government and the community decides its value, it’s been dubbed “the world’s first decentralised currency”. We at Springbok are glad to inform you that our customers can now use Bitcoin for both deposits and withdrawals. 

How to Buy and Pay with Bitcoin

Bitcoins can be bought from exchanges through companies such as Coinbase, or directly from other individuals via marketplaces. You can pay for them in cash, by credit or debit cards, or by wire transfers. What you first need to get is a wallet; instead of coins and notes, it stores digital credentials which allow you to access your Bitcoins and spend them. Each transaction has to be digitally signed with your private key (which confirms you are the owner) and verified by the network using the public key. The whole verification process is super-fast and takes up to 10 minutes.

There are different kinds of wallets and each provides a different level of security. Main options include software wallet stored on the hard drive of your computer, an online web-based service, and a 'vault' service that keeps your bitcoins protected offline. Mobile wallet runs as an app on your smartphone, stores private keys for your bitcoin addresses, and enables you to pay directly from your phone. If you’re worried about cyber-attacks, you might want to consider paper wallets which contain two QR codes - public address which you can use to receive Bitcoins, and private key which is used to spend Bitcoins stored at that address.
Making a deposit into your Springbok account by using Bitcoins is super-easy. Simply head to the cashier section and select Bitcoin among the offered deposit methods. You’ll be given a wallet address which needs to be pasted into your digital wallet. Choose the amount you wish to deposit, authorise the transaction, and the funds will be transferred to your casino account.

Why Pay with Bitcoin?

Speed: Bitcoin transactions take place between users directly, with no intermediary such as a bank to prolong the processing time. And as already mentioned, the network verification process takes less than 10 minutes.

Security: When using credit cards, you’ll have to enter all kind of private information into an online form (your credit card number, CSV number etc). Sophisticated security measures make it extremely difficult for hackers to obtain these data, but with Bitcoin the risk is literary zero. Bitcoin transactions require no sensitive information to be provided as they’re verified by the combination of public and private keys. 

Lower transaction fees: Cost of accepting Bitcoins is lower compared to those of credit cards, PayPal and other banking methods.

Protection against inflation: Physical currencies are susceptible to inflation, if for example the government decides to print more. Bitcoin comes with a fixed maximum number, and after it gets reached, no more Bitcoins will be created.

You’re in control: Whether you keep your money in the bank or a PayPal account, your funds are in someone else’s hands. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is always in your pocket (or rather your wallet). 

Bitcoin Mechanics Explained

Bitcoin is a digital token transferred electronically from one user to another, and it’s also the name for a payment network which moves Bitcoin tokens. Unlike companies such as Visa and MasterCard, Bitcoin is run by a decentralised network of computers all over the world which keep track of all Bitcoin transactions. The cryptocurrency is generated by complex sequence of mathematical formula run on computers.
So people send Bitcoins to each other all the time, and someone has to keep track of all these transactions. This is the job of bitcoin networks. They collect all transfers made during a certain period and store them into a list called a block. Miners have the responsibility to confirm these transaction and write them into a general ledger which contains a long list of blocks (the blockchain), consisting of all transactions that have ever took place on the bitcoin network. When a block of transactions gets created, miners apply a mathematical formula and turn it into a “hash” – unique random sequence of letters and numbers. The hash gets stored together with the block, and if anyone would change any piece of information within the block, the hash would change as well and reveal someone has tempered with it. This process of repeated verification and collection of newly broadcasted transactions, called “mining”, ensures the blockchain is kept consistent, complete and unalterable.

Brief History of Bitcoin

This new form of money has supposedly been created by Satoshi Nakamoto, and to this day it’s not sure if the name refers to one person or is in fact a pseudonym for a group of people. Either way, the said Nakamoto started to develop Bitcoin concept back in 2007, and a year later he/they published a paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. The first block called ‘Genesis’ was launched beginning of 2009, and the first transaction using Bitcoin currency took place in January 2009 between Satoshi and a programmer Hal Finney. The same year value of Bitcoin was set at US$1 = 1,309 BTC, calculated based on the cost of electricity needed to run a computer that generated Bitcoins.

The first real-world transaction took place when a programmer from Florida offered to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for a Papa John’s pizza on the Bitcoin Forum; according to today’s Bitcoin value, that pizza would have costed almost £2,000. By 2011, Bitcoin has reached parity with the US dollar, and soon after passed parity with Euro and GBP. By March 2013, the total Bitcoin market cap passed US$1 billion and the value of Bitcoin on exchanges went above US$100. The same year, first Bitcoin ATM was put in operation in San Diego, California, and PrimeDice.com was launched as an online casino platform accepting Bitcoin wagers.

Today Springbok has decided to offer the same privilege to their valued members.