Which Coins Are Best For Betting?

Here at SBL, we routinely (incessantly?) advocate gambling with cryptocurrency above all other betting banking methods. The benefits of betting with crypto are well documented: fast deposits, better bonuses, same-day payouts, post facto investments, etc. You get the idea.

But that doesn’t mean you should bet with any old crypto. In fact, regardless of the trusted sportsbook site you choose, you should view the cryptocurrency menu as less of a tout on assets to buy and more of a list of coins to use if you already hodl them.

In other words, a new crypto user shouldn’t look at a site’s banking menu and use that to decide which coin to buy for betting.

(As an aside, it does bear pointing out that you can and should use these betting crypto menus to start your research into viable long-term investment-grade coins, as these sites only support cryptocurrencies that have generally proven to be good investments both in the past and going forward. These crypto betting portfolios are – in their way – effective crypto touts all their own.)

In most cases, and at most sites, new crypto users should stick with just one or two coins.

At venues like Bovada Sportsbook, which only supports half a dozen crypto assets, that’s an obviously sensible tack to take.

At sites like MyBookie AG or BetOnline AG – which, at the time of this writing, support 10 and 18 cryptos, respectively – it’s a less obvious tack to take. But it’s true: You still only have one or two coins to choose from.

Again, the exception here – and the reason these books have the sizeable crypto menus they have – is to give existing hodlers of the coins in question a way to make fast deposits as cheaply as possible.

If all you have is a bunch of Dogecoin but your site doesn’t take DOGE, you’ve got to pay extra fees to exchange that DOGE to Bitcoin or Ethereum or Litecoin with which to wager.

But for new users, the considerations are different.

Of course, there are a couple schools of thought on what your first crypto should be, whether or not you’re using the stuff to legally bet sports online.

Sure, if you’re going to gamble, you’ll want to choose a coin your site supports. That’s a given. But you also want that coin to have some extra benefits beyond the betting-related perks you get.

Ideally, the coin you choose should process relatively quickly, have inexpensive transaction fees, and have a proven track record for asset growth. Remember, most crypto bettors don’t actually cash all the way out to USD. Instead, they put their crypto into wallets and ride the market long-term.

Now, in most cases, your first crypto should be Bitcoin. That will probably always be true.

An argument can also be made for choosing Ethereum.

After all, there’s little chance that these two assets will fall out of their 1-2 rankings any time soon. The crypto market is still Bitcoin, then Ethereum, then everything else.

But since you’re going to use these coins for gambling, BTC and ETH may not be the best choices.

Bitcoin fees aren’t trivial, and Bitcoin transaction times can take upwards of an hour. For payouts, that’s no big deal, but it’s a bit long to wait on a deposit to clear – especially when they game you want to bet on is about to start.

And double goes for Ethereum and all ETH-based cryptos.

Essentially, while we always recommend betting with crypto over all other banking options, we don’t recommend the following coins unless you already have some and wish to use them for online sports gambling:

• ApeCoin – ETH-based, low investment potential, not accepted at most sites
• Binance Coin/BNB – Limited support from US-based exchanges (Binance.US only), moderate investment potential, not accepted at some sites
• Bitcoin – High fees, slow transfer times, accepted at all sites
• Bitcoin SV – Low investment potential, not accepted at most sites
• Chainlink – Moderate investment potential, not accepted at most sites
• Dogecoin – Low investment potential, not accepted at some sites
• Ethereum – Highest fees, slowest transfer times, accepted at all sites
• Ripple/XRP – No support from US-based exchanges (Atomic Wallet only), not accepted at most sites
• Shiba Inu –Low investment potential, not accepted at some sites
• Stellar – Low investment potential, not accepted at most sites
• USD Coin – No investment potential (stablecoin), not accepted at some sites
• Tether – No investment potential (stablecoin), accepted at most sites

This leaves the following crypto coins as viable bet funding options for first-time crypto users who want all the betting and investing benefits of cryptocurrency gambling. However, these have their own pros and cons, too:

• Avalanche – Low fees, fast transfer times, proof-of-stake (easy to earn free AVAX), moderate investment potential, not accepted at most sites
• Bitcoin Cash – Low fees, moderate transfer times, proof-of-work (no cost-effective mining for free BCH), moderate investment potential, accepted at all sites
• Cardano – Low fees, fast transfer times, proof-of-stake (easy to earn free ADA), high investment potential, not accepted at some sites
• Litecoin – Low fees, fast transfer times, proof-of-work (no cost-effecting mining for free LTC), accepted at all sites
• Polygon – Moderate fees, moderate transfer times, proof-of-stake (easy to earn free MATIC), moderate investment potential, not accepted at most sites
• Solana – Low fees, fast transfer times, proof-of-stake (easy to earn free SOL), high investment potential, not accepted at some sites

These are the best options, but most of them are not universal. In other words, you’ll only be able to join a single site or two if you’re married to anything above except Bitcoin Cash or Litecoin. Of course, that shouldn’t matter unless you’re into shopping lines for the best odds on any given game.

If it does matter, then, obviously, BCH and LTC are your best bets. And of the two, we prefer Litecoin.

But if you’re good with gambling at BetOnline and SportsBetting AG, Avalanche and Polygon are compelling. Meanwhile, you can wager with Cardano and Solana at those two sites plus MyBookie AG and Xbet AG. Bovada and BetUS don’t support these coins, but between the four venues that do, you have plenty to work with.

And because ADA and SOL are the most popular and feature-rich proof-of-stake coins on the market today, they also have the highest investment potential of any coin this side of BTC and ETH.

So, when you combine sports betting with crypto investing and an eye for more medium- and long-term gains, these two coins – Cardano and Solana – are the best gambles to make today.