Stablecoin
A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, most often one US dollar, such as USDT or USDC.
Also called stable coin, stablecoins, dollar-pegged token
Stablecoins let you move dollars' worth of value on a blockchain without the price swings of Bitcoin or Ether. The largest, USDT (Tether) and USDC (Circle), are backed by reserves of cash and similar assets held by the company that issues them. At a casino they are useful because your balance changes much less in value while it sits there.
Example. You deposit Bitcoin and its price drops 5% that evening. Your balance is worth 5% less before you place a bet. If you deposit 500 USDT instead, it is still worth about 500 dollars.
What people get wrong. The costly mistake is the network. USDT exists on several blockchains, such as Ethereum, Tron and Solana. USDC also exists on several, but not all the same ones. The token name is the same but the networks are separate. Send on a network the casino's deposit address does not support and the money can be lost. Match the network shown on the deposit page. The network fee also differs a lot between them.
"Stable" is a goal, not a guarantee. A large stablecoin with no reserves collapsed in May 2022. Some issuers can also freeze tokens at an address.
Related terms
- Network fee
A network fee is what a blockchain charges to process a transaction, and it is set by the network and how busy it is, not by the casino.
- Confirmation
A confirmation is a block added to a blockchain that includes your transaction or builds on top of it, and each extra one makes the payment harder to reverse.
- Custodial wallet
A custodial wallet is one where a company holds the private keys and controls the crypto for you, as an exchange or a casino account does.
- Self-custody
Self-custody means you hold the private keys to your crypto yourself, usually backed up as a seed phrase, so that only you can move it.