Last week, we told you about how BetOnline and sister site SportsBetting AG added three more cryptocurrency betting options to their gambling banking suites.
And while it’s great to have even more crypto support than ever, the mere fact that you can now bet with Binance Coin, Avalanche AVAX coins, and the fractions-of-a-penny priced Shiba Inu memecoin, the expanded menu does nothing to address the biggest hurdle for crypto gambling in general.
That is, it doesn’t make it any easier to get your hands on crypto in the first place.
That said, we’ve discussed before how you can actually acquire crypto with which to fund your legal online sports betting activities.
The first and most common way, naturally, is to go through a commercial crypto exchange.
Sites like Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, Bittrex, Kraken, Binance.US, and most other US-based exchanges allow you to turn your fiat money (i.e. USD) into many of the most popular current cryptocurrencies.
However, not all coins are available on all exchanges, as exemplified by the lack of support for Ripple (XRP) and – now – Binance Coin (BNB).
That’s right: At least two of BetOnline’s and SportsBetting AG’s supported cryptocurrencies can’t easily be purchased via US-regulated crypto exchanges.
In the case of BNB, the limited access is a result of this asset being the Binance exchange’s native platform-driving crypto coin. Competing exchanges won’t support it for that reason alone.
Meanwhile, in the case of XRP, all major exchanges have simply delisted the asset. This delisting will eventually be resolved as the SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs plays out over the next year or so, but until then, betting with Ripple is a tall order unless you already hold some of the stuff.
Of course, even though Binance Coin is limited to the Binance.US exchange (which isn’t even available in all US states as of Q1 2022), you can still buy the stuff – and avoid the typical exchange waiting periods of 5-10 days as typically levied on new users – by buying BNB through the Atomic Wallet crypto store. Similarly, you can also buy BNB coins via the Coinify service, albeit Coinify is available in even fewer states than Binance.US.
As for Ripple, Atomic Wallet is actually the only place US residents can easily buy XRP, and both Atomic and Coinify support most of the remaining popular crypto gambling options supported by the sportsbooks we recommend.
But there’s now another option, and it’s representative of a growing trend in the crypto space.
Atomic – through the Atomic store – started this push, and Coinify has conceptually provided the other half of the solution.
In effect, more and more universal crypto wallets are starting to team up with third-party crypto stores to offer an integrated crypto acquisition platform for wallet users who wish to forego the big exchanges.
Atomic is still the best option by far, but competitors are cropping up.
The Jaxx Wallet – rebranded as the Jaxx Liberty Blockchain Wallet and available for both iPhone and Android devices (along with Windows and Mac computers and as a Google Chrome browser extension) – is the newest and most prominent competitor to unveil direct crypto-buying services.
In Jaxx’ case, developer Decentral has partnered with Simplex, an established and fully licensed crypto acquisition platform.
With its Simplex integration, the Jaxx Liberty Wallet is able to facilitate trades for over 100 different crypto coins, and the wallet itself can safely store the following common betting cryptos:
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash
- Litecoin
- Ethereum
- Dogecoin
- Chainlink
- Tether
- USD Coin
- Binance Coin
- Shiba Inu
Surprisingly, Jaxx omits support – at least right now – for Cardano, Solana, and Stellar, which are three of the most popular crypto options in the entire industry.
Less surprisingly, Jaxx’ lack of support for XRP and Avalanche coins is pretty standard across the board (albeit we expect Jaxx AVAX options to roll out long before Jaxx XRP options do).
When it comes to buying crypto with USD or other fiat currencies, Jaxx is similarly less capable than Atomic or Coinify, though it is more convenient to use than the latter option (which, if you’ll recall, isn’t actually a crypto wallet).
Here are the sports betting cryptocurrencies you can currently purchase using the Jaxx Liberty app:
- Bitcoin
- Litecoin
- Ethereum
- Dogecoin
- Binance Coin
- Tether
When you buy crypto with Jaxx, you’ll have to make a minimum $50 purchase, and you’ll be assessed a 3.5% fee. (The maximum single purchase limit is $20,000, which shouldn’t be a problem.)
You can buy crypto with the Jaxx Simplex plugin using your Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, though credit card purchases may incur additional cash advance fees depending on your card issuer’s terms of service.
Interestingly – and this is something that just might push Jaxx over Atomic Wallet or Coinify as the most viable option for your needs – you can actually use Apple Pay with the Jaxx Simplex product.
Most crypto stores and crypto exchanges don’t offer seamlessly integrated Apple Pay purchases, so its nice to see that Jaxx is pushing that envelope.
In the end, whether or not Jaxx will be your go-to instant-buy store for crypto sports betting remains to be seen. And truthfully, Atomic Wallet is still the superior option, here.
Nevertheless, Jaxx is making a respectable effort, and expanded crypto compatibility is all but assured going forward.
