Bitcoin Continues To Expand In Atlanta By Way Of ATM
Some ATMs do allow users to sell the cryptocurrency. Once Bitcoin is sold, users can transfer money to a traditional bank account.
Jeff Chiu / Associated Press
For all the talk about Bitcoin potentially being the currency of the future, the ATM’s look rather ordinary. They are touch screen and have a keypad just like traditional machines. They even require a pin.
Coinsource recently installed 20 of the ATMs in Georgia, 18 in Atlanta and two in Athens, for the cryptocurrency which is based online, has no central authority, and the users set its value.
There are more than a hundred of these ATMs in Atlanta making it the third largest market in the country behind Chicago and New York City.
The brown markers on the map represent machines owned by Coinsource and the blue machines owned by Athena.
For all the similarities between traditional and Bitcoin ATMs, there are some differences.
Brandon Mintz, the President and CEO of Bitcoin Depot, a company that installs the ATMs, said first you use an app to download a Bitcoin wallet. That gives you an ID in the form of a code.
“You would actually scan that QR code at the ATM,” he said. “And then you would insert your cash and click finish. You get the option of a paper receipt or emailed receipt and you’ll get a notification that you received your bitcoin to your bitcoin wallet in just a few minutes.”
Basically, the ATMs turn users’ cash into Bitcoins. The automated teller machines tend to be located in gas stations or shopping plazas, places with high foot traffic.
Sometimes the machines are right next to traditional ones. The machines kind of look like the past sitting right next to a potential future.
Peter Saddington, with The Bitcoin Pub, a forum for people interested in learning more about cryptocurrency, said there are some problems with the ATMs. One is a lack of awareness.
“For an average person walking by you might look at it and say oh, that’s kind of cool, there’s some Bitcoin there,” he said. “I’ve heard of that, but I don’t know enough about it.”
Saddington said most purchases of Bitcoin take place online and with a move to a more digital world, the ATMs could become obsolete.
Mintz, with Bitcoin Depot, said the average ATM user is in their mid-20’s while between 50 to 67 percent of Bitcoin users are.
Because of the code that creates Bitcoins, only 21 million full coins can exist. They can be bought or sold in fractions as small as eight decimal points.
Saddington said because of that, it’s possible every person in the world can own a fraction of a Bitcoin.
Right now, only a handful of businesses actually accept Bitcoin for online transactions. Some being Overstock.com and Microsoft for payments on the app store or Xbox users.
For people going to the ATM, Bitcoin purchases are probably more of an investment. But Saddington said that will change.
“In the future, I see that the vast majority of people will be using bitcoin as the primary medium of exchange,” he said.
Some ATMs do allow users to sell the cryptocurrency. Once Bitcoin is sold, users can transfer money to a traditional bank account.
Or if users want, they can withdraw cash directly from the machine, just like an old school ATM.
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