Anonymous XMR Online Casinos – Gamble with Monero, Not Your Identity
In the greater scheme of things, Monero [XMR] resembles many of the world’s most popular crypto currencies. It’s a decentralized, digital token, running on an open-source framework, with transactions recorded on a blockchain ledger. However, Monero features greater scalability, absolute fungibility, and best of all, impenetrable anonymity. The most prevailing factor for users of Monero is that its among a rare class of crypto currencies that are truly private.
A lot of people seem to think that using privacy coin like Monero insinuates that they’re using it for illegal purposes. While that’s absolutely possible, and no doubt it does happen, XMR is also used for perfectly legitimate reasons. Sometimes, it’s necessary, or at least highly beneficial, to maintain privacy, even if the activity is legal, such as for the purpose of playing online casino games in Canada.
Internet gambling is not illegal here. But maybe you grew up in a very religious family, and they don’t approve of it, just as they may not approve of consuming alcohol, or being homosexual. These things are not illegal, either. But if you want to sign up for a homosexual dating app, or play real online blackjack without leaving any trace behind, you can do that with Monero. Plus, you have the benefit of sending and receiving XMR without paying the high fees of centralized payment solutions (i.e. banks, web wallets, etc.)
Being so unique to the crypto coinage community, there’s a lot of topics to cover. We’ll start with a brief history, then move into a discussion of Monero’s most beneficial features. You’ll also learn how and where to buy Monero, and how to play casino games with XMR.
History of Monero – A Truly Private Crypto Currency
Monero was first launched in April 2014. To explain its birth, however, we need to go back a little further in time to the mid-2012 launch of Bytecoin [BCN]. Bytecoin was the world’s first crypto currency to be written in a software language known as CryptoNote. Today, CryptoNote is the bedrock of all ‘Privacy Coins‘, including Monero.
CryptoNote ensures the privacy and anonymity of all transactions by requiring multiple ‘keys’. These include both private keys and public keys. When such keys are combined, it creates a ‘ring signature’ that is utterly impossible to trace; thus it’s impossible to tell who sent what coins to who.
Bytecoin was a good start to the privacy coin movement, but it had its flaws. For one, 80% of the total token cap was released at launch. To improve upon BCN, seven developers got together and launched Bitmonero. Two of them, Riccardo “Fluffypony” Spagni and David Latapie, chose to reveal their identities. The other five are anonymous, known only as “smooth”, “TacoTime”, “othe”, “eizh”, and “NoodleDoodle”.
Over time, Bitmonero was shortened to just Monero, which translates from Esparanto to “coin“. Their vision was to build a digital token that combines the qualities of BTC and BCN, in ways that are far superior to each.
Anonymity + Scalability + Fungibility = Monero
We already went over the benefits of utilizing a perfectly anonymous crypto in the introduction above. I also mentioned the scalability and fungibility of Monero versus some standard cryptos like Bitcoin. Here’s why those features matter.
Scalable
Scalability simply means that the network has the ability to grow with inevitable advancements in technology. While Bitcoin can only be mined in 1MB blocks, at a rate of 1 block every 10 minutes, Monero can be mined in variable transaction sizes, with safeguards in place to prevent block spamming. Miners receive incentives for mining moderate size blocks, or penalties for unnecessarily oversized blocks. Rewards are based on mining average block sizes, with the average size steadily increasing based on demand.
Fungible
Fungibility – I know, it’s a funny word, but what it means is that something is interchangeable with another of its kind; that one can be replaced with another with no impact. Physical coins are generally fungible, too. I can give you a dime, and you can give me a dime, and nothing has changed. Both are worth 10 cents, so there’s no difference in which dime you and I have. The same cannot be said of Bitcoin and most altcoins, since each and every coin can be traced back through every wallet it ever landed in since it was mined.
Anonymous
Why would this matter? Because, as we established already, crypto can and is used for illegal purposes, too. If you are sent a Bitcoin that was once used for an illegal transaction, such as buying drugs, that coin may become ‘tainted’. Once tainted, it never loses that digital label. If you attempt to use it to buy something from a legitimate website, the operator may actually refuse to take it. Thus every Bitcoin has a unique identity, and is not fungible, or interchangeable, with another Bitcoin.
Is Monero Valuable? Yes and No…
The value of Monero lies within its primary features – anonymity, scalability and fungibility. For those who require a truly private crypto that will grow at the same speed of technology, its value is limitless. Monero is not, however, what you would call an investment crypto.
XMR was not designed to fluctuate in value. It does, because it’s an altcoin, and every altcoin (except for stablecoins) ebbs and flows with the cryptographic tide. But there are a number of reasons why it will (or should) experience a very low inflation rate. The most influential is that there is no cap on the number of tokens that can be mined. Annual mining is limited, but there’s no final number.
How to Buy and Sell XMR Crypto
There are a number of ways you can acquire Monero. You can mine it yourself, or work for it by doing odd jobs that offer payment in XMR. You could trade fiat money or another crypto for it on a centralized or decentralized exchange. A few Canadian Bitcoin ATMs even sell it. We’ll detail each below, but before you do any of these things, make sure you have a way to hold it.
Compatible Monero Wallets
This is one of the few drawbacks for Monero. There aren’t a lot of wallets that can store it. Fortunately, the Monero community came together to develop some great options. One is the Monero GUI Wallet. It has a full-feature interface, suitable for both beginner and advanced users. Another is the Monero CLI Wallet. This one is far more complex, but highly customizable, suited specifically for developers. Hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor are also XMR compatible. For additional options, we recommend visiting the official Monero Wallet downloads page from GetMonero.org.
Trade XMR on a CEX/DEX Crypto Exchange
The most common way to get XMR is to buy it on a trading platform. Both centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) may offer it. Note that any CEX that sells XRM (Binance, Kraken, Bitfinex, etc.) is going to be traceable, just like any other investment platform. If you’re looking for privacy, you’re better off trading P2P-style on a DEX, such as BISQ and HodlHodl.
How to Mine Your Own Monero
Monero was specifically designed to be profitable for the average miner. Unlike BTC, which requires expensive, specialized ASIC mining equipment, Monero utilizes CryptoNight, an alternate hashing algorithm that CPUs and GPUs can handle. You can learn more about mining from directly from the Monero community:
Buy Monero from a Bitcoin ATM (Canada)
Bitcoin ATMs are perhaps the most expensive way to buy Monero and other major crypto currencies, based on high commission fees, but the fact that you can do it in person, with the simple swipe of a debit card, makes it popular among some crowds. If you happen to be in that crowd, you’ll be happy to know that there are a few – and I do mean few – crypto ATMs in Canada that sell it.
The vast majority of them are located in and around the Greater Toronto Area, with a single location available in Ottawa (at time of writing). You can view a complete map of Bitcoin ATMs in Canada, filtered by XMR availability, here (click the XMR data circle on the map). And of course, swiping a debit card will leave a trace that you’ve purchased XMR, but play it smart, and the trail ends there.
Gambling with XMR at Monero Crypto Casinos
Having noted all the advantages of a privacy token like Monero, you can surely see why so many people elect to play online blackjack and other casino games with XMR. Its secure, its instant and ultra cheap to transfer, and it provides absolute anonymity and privacy for the user. The only real downside we’ve found is that Monero casinos aren’t all that common. In our experience, only about 25% of highly reputable crypto casinos accept XMR in Canada.
