Digital payments have taken the world by storm in the last decade and a half. What’s more, the number and types of online payment methods have significantly diversified. Global payers (and payees) can now send or receive monetary assets through wire transfers, credit card payments, and cryptocurrencies.
This article explains how to choose between cryptocurrencies and credit card payments to pay for online games.
How Do Cryptocurrencies Work?
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, web-based monetary assets. Having risen quickly since their conception in 2009, some cryptocurrencies – like Bitcoin – are now accepted on many commercial websites,gambling sites included.
Based on blockchain technology,cryptocurrencies aren’t subject to any state-owned or financial institutions. They’re controlled by their stakeholders, meaning each cryptocurrency is monitored by its developers, users, and miners.
Thanks to the structure of blockchain – in which strings of blocks make mutually connected but independent bricks of information – it’s not easy to meddle with the data stored within each of the blocks. While it’s not 100% immune to hacker attacks, the complex nature of these combinations makes cryptocurrencies more difficult to interfere with than ordinary bank accounts.
The lack of regulation and seemingly high level of security are the two reasons why crypto has been so gladly embraced. Still, there are a few spots on these pink glasses, which we’ll cover below.
What Are Credit Card Payments?
Credit card payments have been the favorite payment method for consumers in the Western part of the world in the last few decades. Even before the rapid growth of online transactions, credit cards were used thanks to the SWIFT protocol, signed in 1973 and launched in 1977, to enhance cross-border payments.
Today, credit cards are still the preferred payment option in most of the countries in Europe and North America. This is so mainly because SWIFT connected the countries of these two continents and the situation has remained similar in the present age.
Even though the global credit card market is growing, the development isn’t equally distributed across different regions.
The key feature here is that the money you have in your bank account and spend via bank cards is fiat money – the assets regulated and released by national governments. The excess of regulations and related limitations force some gamers away from traditional currencies to cryptocurrencies.
Online Games and In-Game Payments
When it comes to electronic payments, credit cards are among the widespread payment methods for digital money transfers and eCommerce.
This also relates to online gaming, from video gaming platforms – such as Steam – to mobile games (in-app purchases), and iGaming websites.
As credit cards have been with us longer, some consumers simply believe this payment method more than some more contemporary solutions. As the security level of such transactions is also high, consisting of several layers of protection – multi-factor authentication, encryption, and tokenization – credit cards are still popular payment solutions for online gaming.
Almost every gaming business in the world accepts credit card payments, which makes them convenient for gamers across the globe.
On the other hand, some gamers prefer the no-strings-attached approach to online payments provided by cryptocurrencies. As you can exchange Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for dollars and other traditional currencies, there’s this benefit for players who want to have several options at their disposal.
The Final Verdict: Crypto or Credit Card?
There’s no uniform answer to the question above. Roughly speaking, gamers should embrace every available and secure payment option that gets things done. Ideally speaking, the best option is to mix both crypto and credit cards, given that the game provider in question accepts both types of payments. In conclusion, the most uniform answer is: check out what payment options the relevant (i)gaming company provides, learn more about the commission fees, and go for the most widespread, least expensive payment.
