Where the rate comes from

Row 01Two numbers, one conversion — and they are never the same

Every currency conversion involves two rates. One is the interbank mid-rate, the midpoint between banks that a currency converter shows you. The other is the effective rate: the rate your account actually converts at. They are never identical, and the gap between them is the cost. Nothing about a gambling account changes that arithmetic — it is the same gap you meet on a card abroad or a bank transfer. What this desk does is separate the steps that produce the effective rate, so that a conversion is a mechanism you can read rather than a number that simply appears.

• Indigo — the neutral settlement layer and the reference rate
• Amber — a quoted rate or a spread point
• Spread-red — the cost the conversion carries
• Mint — the amount you actually receive

Once the two numbers are held apart, the useful question stops being “what is the rate today” and becomes “which rate applied to my conversion, at which layer, and what did the gap cost”. This desk is about those questions. The payment rails themselves — which methods exist — belong to Payment Rails, and the blockchain network fee belongs to Chain Desk. Here the subject is only the currency conversion and the rate.

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Row 02A conversion runs only when currencies have to cross

A conversion is not a feature of depositing or withdrawing; it is a consequence of the currency changing. If you deposit in the currency the account holds and stake in that currency, no conversion is needed and no rate is applied to that money. A conversion is triggered at the specific points where a currency boundary is crossed: a deposit in a currency the account does not hold, a stake that has to move between two pockets, a payout in a currency different from the balance, or a bank receiving money in a currency its account does not use. Each crossing is a separate conversion with its own rate and its own margin, which is why the same money can be converted more than once between entering and leaving an account.

Row 03What a multi-currency wallet actually holds

A multi-currency wallet keeps separate balances — often called pockets or sub-balances — so that each currency is held in its own right rather than being flattened into one. The consequence is precise: money you hold in a currency can be staked in that currency without a conversion, and a conversion happens only when money has to move between pockets or when the payout currency differs from the pocket it is paid from. That is why two accounts with the same deposit can show different balances: one converted on arrival, the other held the currency as it arrived. The wallet rules are the operator’s, set out in its terms, and they decide how many pockets exist and when a rate applies.

Row 04Who sets the rate you are given

No single party sets “the” rate. The interbank market sets the mid-rate, which is a reference rather than a rate you can transact at. A card scheme or payment processor applies its own conversion rate and margin when it settles a cross-currency payment. The operator applies the rate at which your account converts, under its terms, adding its own markup. Your bank may apply a further margin when the money lands. The number you see is the product of those layers, and they are rarely itemised, which is exactly why the mid-rate and the effective rate differ and why the operator’s terms are the document that defines its own rate.

Row 05What the conversion costs — and why it hides

The cost of a conversion is the margin between the effective rate and the mid-rate, applied to the amount converted. It is usually expressed as a percentage, so it scales with size: a 1.5 percent margin on 1,000 is about 15, on 500 about 7.50. Because it sits inside the rate, it does not appear as a line labelled “fee”, which is why it is easy to miss and why the only robust measure is to compare the effective rate you received with the mid-rate at the same moment. Where an operator also charges an explicit conversion fee, that sits on top of the rate margin. Both are real costs; the rate margin is the one that hides.

Row 06Why a payout can arrive in a different currency

The currency a payout arrives in is decided by the path the money takes, not by the currency you deposited. A payout settles in the wallet currency on the operator side, then in the currency of the payment method, then in the currency of the bank account that receives it — and each place those differ is a conversion. That is why a pound deposit can become a euro payout, or a euro balance can land as dollars in a bank account that only holds dollars. The rule is not that the payout “should” match the deposit; it is that the payout is converted wherever the path crosses a currency, and the rate applied at the final step is your bank’s, not the operator’s.

Row 07How to use this desk

Start with conversion if you want the mechanism in order; with wallet currencies if you hold more than one; with who sets the rate if you want to know whose number you are being given; with costs if you want to work out what a conversion charged you; with the spread if you want the arithmetic worked; and with settlement if your payout arrived in the wrong currency. Each page is answer-first, shows the arithmetic or a schematic, and states its own limits. None of it is financial advice, and none of it is a way to avoid a fee or to profit from currency movements.

• Answer-first
• No financial advice
• No named operators or banks

• Mechanism over opinion
• Worked examples
• Compliance on every page

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