Will 2014 be The Year of the Bitcoin ATM? On Jan. 2 Robocoin announced pending Bitcoin ATM installations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Toronto. A report from Tech Crunch said that the company will reach into those markets with installations this month, and has plans to further branch out into Europe and the U.S. later in the year.
“Bitcoin demand in Asia is amazing,” said Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelley. “We have many Asian countries seeking to enhance consumer capability to buy and sell bitcoin securely and safely.”
„We sold over 50 machines within the first 50 days of accepting orders,” Robocoin „growth guru” Sam Glaser told Tech Crunch. „Since we launched on October 29 in Vancouver we’ve had over 1,900 people and companies around the world inquire to purchase.”
However, on Jan. 6, publications (including Tech Crunch) widely reported that Taiwan had nixed the installation. According to the later Tech Crunch article, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Tseng Ming-chung said, „Bitcoins are not a currency and should therefore not be accepted by individuals or banks as payment.”
China’s government has issued a similar edict regarding Bitcoin and has told banks and money exchanges not to accept the digital currency.
Vancouver can boast the first-ever Bitcoin ATM; a Robocoin machine was installed in a Vancouver, Canada, coffeehouse in October and toted up $1 million in transactions within its first month of operation.
„It took us 29 days to surpass $1mm CAD in transactions from 1576 transactions. 52% of Robocoin customers are first time bitcoin users using our “generate wallet” feature. The numbers have actually been accelerating.”, says Glaser, quoted by Tech Crunch.
This week, Toronto will get its first Bitcoin ATM, produced by Ottawa, Canada-based vendor BitAccess, according to Toronto Life.
Newnote Networks Inc., another Vancouver-based company, announced on Jan. 6 that it had purchased its first Bitcoin ATM. The machine from California-based Lamassu accepts cash for Bitcoin purchases, but does not dispense cash in exchange for bitcoins.
Newnote, which specializes in the development and acquisition of cryptocurrency related products and services, expects to receive its unit in Q1 of 2014. In a news release, the company said it was currently scouting possible locations for the machine.
Robocoin’s Glaser told Tech Crunch that Bitcoin-using New Yorkers could expect the announcement of a Robocoin ATM installation in Manhattan sometime soon.
Source: www.atmmarketplace.com
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
