2025 was the year cryptocurrency went from a niche payment option to a mainstream deposit method in sports betting. Across the BetFlow platform, crypto deposit volume grew 340% year-over-year, from $180 million in 2024 to $792 million in 2025. More significantly, the number of unique bettors making at least one crypto deposit tripled, indicating that growth is being driven by genuine adoption rather than a small number of whale depositors. Here is our comprehensive analysis of what happened, what it means, and where crypto in sports betting is headed.
Top Coins by Volume
The composition of crypto deposits shifted dramatically in 2025. Stablecoins, particularly USDT (Tether) and USDC, now account for 67% of all crypto deposit volume on our platform, up from 38% in 2024. This shift reflects a maturing market where bettors increasingly prefer the predictability of dollar-pegged assets over the volatility of Bitcoin or Ethereum for gambling purposes. When a bettor deposits $500 worth of USDT, they know it will still be worth approximately $500 when they go to place their bet.
Bitcoin remains the second most popular crypto for sports betting deposits, accounting for 18% of volume, but its share has declined from 34% in 2024. Ethereum holds third position at 8%, also down from its 2024 share. The remaining 7% is split across a long tail of alternative coins, with Solana, Litecoin, and Dogecoin being the most notable. Solana in particular showed strong growth in the second half of 2025, driven by its fast confirmation times and low transaction fees, which make it well-suited for the rapid deposit-bet-withdraw cycle that characterizes sports betting.
Average deposit sizes vary significantly by coin. Bitcoin deposits average $1,240, reflecting its continued popularity among higher-value depositors. USDT and USDC average $285 and $310 respectively, much closer to the $195 average for traditional card deposits. This convergence in deposit sizes is a strong signal that stablecoin adoption is being driven by mainstream bettors rather than crypto-native power users.
Regional Trends
Crypto adoption in sports betting is highly uneven across geographies. Latin America leads the pack, with crypto accounting for 28% of total deposit volume across our operators in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. In Argentina specifically, where currency instability has made crypto a mainstream financial tool, crypto deposits represent a remarkable 41% of all sports betting deposits. USDT dominance is even more pronounced here, comprising 82% of crypto volume.
In regulated US markets, crypto adoption is growing but remains constrained by state-level regulations. Only 14 of the 36 online betting states currently permit crypto deposits, and even among those, several impose requirements like mandatory auto-conversion to USD at the point of deposit. In states that allow direct crypto wagering, crypto accounts for approximately 11% of deposit volume, up from 4% in 2024. New Jersey, Colorado, and Indiana have shown the fastest adoption rates.
European markets present a mixed picture. The UK, the largest regulated betting market in Europe, effectively prohibits crypto deposits through its Gambling Commission regulations. However, markets like Malta, Gibraltar, and Curacao-licensed operators serving broader European audiences have seen crypto grow to 15-20% of deposit volume. The upcoming EU Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which took full effect in 2025, is expected to standardize crypto acceptance rules across EU member states and could accelerate adoption in previously restrictive jurisdictions.
Regional Spotlight: Argentina has emerged as the global leader in crypto sports betting adoption. With 41% of deposits made in crypto (primarily USDT), it offers a preview of what mainstream crypto adoption in sports betting could look like. Operators targeting Latin America without robust crypto payment infrastructure are leaving significant market share on the table.
Stablecoin Dominance and What It Means
The shift toward stablecoins is the defining trend of crypto in sports betting, and it has important implications for how operators and payment processors should be thinking about their crypto strategies. Stablecoins solve the two biggest friction points of crypto betting: price volatility and mental accounting.
When a bettor deposits Bitcoin, both the bettor and the operator are exposed to price risk. If Bitcoin drops 5% between deposit and withdrawal, someone absorbs that loss. Auto-conversion to fiat at deposit time solves this for the operator but adds processing complexity and costs. Stablecoins eliminate this friction entirely. The bettor deposits $500 of USDT and knows they have $500 to wager with. The operator receives $500 in value and holds a stable asset. No conversion is needed, no volatility risk exists, and the accounting is straightforward.
Mental accounting is the second key advantage. Bettors think in dollars (or their local currency equivalent), not in fractions of Bitcoin. When a bettor sees “0.0053 BTC” in their account, they need to mentally convert to understand its value. With USDT or USDC, the value is immediately clear. This cognitive simplicity reduces deposit hesitation and increases wagering activity. Our data shows that bettors who deposit with stablecoins place 22% more bets per session than those depositing with volatile crypto, a direct result of reduced cognitive friction.
For payment processors, stablecoin dominance simplifies infrastructure requirements significantly. Instead of maintaining integrations with dozens of blockchain networks and managing volatile asset conversion, processors can focus on supporting USDT and USDC across 2-3 major chains (Ethereum, Tron, and Solana cover 95% of stablecoin volume) and deliver an excellent user experience with far less complexity.
Auto-Conversion Features and Operator Flexibility
Despite the trend toward stablecoins, a significant portion of bettors still prefer to deposit with Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other volatile assets. For these bettors, auto-conversion, the automatic exchange of crypto to fiat or stablecoins at the point of deposit, is a critical feature. BetFlow's auto-conversion engine processed $147 million in conversions in 2025, a 280% increase from 2024.
The engineering challenge of auto-conversion lies in providing a guaranteed exchange rate to the bettor while protecting the operator from slippage. Our system locks the exchange rate for 60 seconds from the moment the bettor initiates the deposit, using aggregated pricing from multiple liquidity sources to minimize spread. If the bettor's transaction confirms on-chain within this window, they receive the quoted rate. If it takes longer, the rate is recalculated at confirmation time, with the bettor receiving whichever rate is more favorable.
Operators on our platform can configure auto-conversion on a per-coin basis. Many choose to auto-convert volatile assets (BTC, ETH) to USD while allowing stablecoins to remain as-is. Others prefer to auto-convert everything to maintain clean fiat-denominated accounting. A growing number are beginning to hold a portion of stablecoin deposits as stablecoins, attracted by the yield opportunities available in DeFi protocols. BetFlow supports all these configurations through a flexible settlement engine that gives operators full control over how crypto deposits are handled post-receipt.
2026 Predictions
Based on our data and industry analysis, we see several trends that will define crypto in sports betting through 2026. First, stablecoin share will continue to grow, likely reaching 75-80% of crypto deposit volume by year-end. USDC may overtake USDT in regulated markets due to its stronger compliance posture and transparent reserve attestations.
Second, we expect 8-10 additional US states to permit crypto deposits for sports betting in 2026, driven by operator lobbying and the demonstrated demand from bettors. States are increasingly viewing crypto acceptance as a competitive necessity to prevent bettors from migrating to offshore operators that already accept it. The regulatory frameworks will likely require auto-conversion to USD and enhanced transaction monitoring, which is already standard in BetFlow's implementation.
Third, Layer 2 solutions will become the default for crypto deposits. The combination of near-instant confirmation times and sub-cent transaction fees makes Layer 2 networks ideal for sports betting, where bettors want their deposits credited immediately. We are already seeing strong growth on Arbitrum and Optimism for Ethereum-based deposits, and we expect this trend to accelerate as bettor and operator education improves.
Finally, crypto payouts will become as important as crypto deposits. In 2025, only 45% of bettors who deposited with crypto also withdrew in crypto, with the majority converting to traditional payment methods for withdrawals. We expect this ratio to shift significantly in 2026 as crypto payment infrastructure matures and bettors gain more confidence in holding and spending crypto. Operators who offer seamless crypto-in, crypto-out experiences will have a meaningful competitive advantage.