Bitcoin Casinos in Trouble as Bitcoin Price Plummets

Bitcoin casinos could be in trouble as the price of bitcoin tumbled over the weekend losing more than 20 percent of its value.

The growing split among developers could threaten to break the cryptocurrency in two and this could be a potential disaster for bitcoin casinos. Bitcoin reached a low of $988 during trading on Sunday which was a massive drop from last week's high of $1,259. This comes as the debate between bitcoin developers continues to rage.

Bitcoin's blockchain technology allows transactions to be traded in batches that are called "blocks", but developers are arguing over the decision to increase the block chain size limit to allow for more transactions. Bitcoin's code limits the size of block transaction to one megabyte. If the limit is to be changed consent from the "miners" is required. Miners are those who have accumulated enough computing power to handle all the transactions. The problem is that the miners fear that adjusting the limit could affect their economics.

A group of developers recently proposed a new platform called Bitcoin Unlimited that would not have any restrictions on the size of blocks in transactions. A separate group of developers, however, want to maintain the original version which is called Bitcoin Core.

Why Did Bitcoin Prices Drop?

If we are to believe the reports that have been circulating, supports of the Bitcoin Unlimited have threatened to set up a "hard fork" for the digital currency. This would mean an alternative software platform that would allow bitcoin trading, but it wouldn't be compatible with the current platform. If this happens it would mean there would be two version of the cryptocurrency available.

There were big discussions held last week by 20 bitcoin exchanges on the possibility of having two bitcoin versions. In a statement, these exchanges stated that in the event of a split, they would list Bitcoin Unlimited as an alternative cryptocurrency under the BTU of XBU tickers.

According to CoinDesk the exchanges said, "As exchanges, we have a responsibility to maintain orderly markets that trade continuously 24/7/365. It is incumbent upon us to support a coherent, orderly and industry-wide approach to preparing for and responding to a contentious hard fork. In the case of a bitcoin hard fork, we cannot suspend operations and wait for a winner to emerge."

The exchanges that took part in the discussions include, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, BTCC, Bitso, Bitsquare, Bitonic, Bitbank, Coinfloor, Coincheck, itBit, QuadrigaCX, Bitt, Bittrex, Kraken, Ripio, ShapeShift, The Rock Trading and Zaif.

Bitcoin Casinos and Bitcoin Price

There is a large number of bitcoin casinos that are now available online and for online gamblers this could cause a lot of confusion. Price drops also affect their winnings and deposit amounts and this could potentially disrupt the bitcoin online gambling area. On Monday morning, the price of bitcoin had risen to $1,039.49 after its weekend slump.