Gadgetory

Bitcoin the virtual currency that approximates cash on the internet has been around for five years now at first it was just for geeks then as the price started to rise it attracted speculators now it's starting to be used in the mainstream as retailers like Tiger Direct and overstock comm start accepting it but it's still clunky to use and not that easy to get a hold of and that's why the new gold rush is in Bitcoin ATMs Michael Peary I brought the first bi-directional Bitcoin ATM to the United States we put the first one in a handle bar here in Austin then we put another one at Dominican Joe's coffee shop what we're doing here with the Bitcoin ATM is trying to provide liquidity in the market traditionally the way people buy into and sell their Bitcoin is through websites like local bitcoins and they have to meet up with people they charge really high prices for doing it we don't charge those prices we make it easily accessible you know wherever they're located you can go to them at any time and buy and sell your Bitcoin so who would ever want to use this thing according to Bitcoin users and business owners who are putting the machines in bars and coffee shops it's actually a lot of people a little over two weeks now we've had over 400 transactions almost 500 transactions something like that I just cashed my Bitcoin out cuz I have to pay some bills you know I got rent and other things you can't pay rent as easily with Bitcoin as you can with cash I think as a means of making payment in a kind of a secure and quick way it's a fantastic idea just let show the current iteration of Bitcoin is the one that will be stable over the long term this ATM is made by robocoin a company based in Las Vegas and it has some serious security measures to use it you have to give it your cell phone number pin and government-issued ID let it take your picture and even scan the veins in your palm now I have to put my palm in even if you guys know my cell phone number and my pin it doesn't really affect it as you need my palm in order to conduct the transaction so at this point I'll use my wallet this is my online wallet I'll scan it here in the QR code reader there's my address it's going to send it to that address right now it's six hundred and sixty nine dollars and ninety cents for one Bitcoin I want to send ten dollars I'm going to insert it here and I just hit finish so it's gonna print a receipt this is my proof of purchase here I got a text message saying that my Bitcoin is on the way I feel very secure using this machine I don't feel like there is gonna be any backlash from the government or anything I'm gonna use the receipt to help pay and organize my taxes and stuff it's a little bit complicated the way it works but there's a lot of people out there that are helping with the tax portion of how to deal with your money that you made in Bitcoin so I'm not really scared that they're gonna come after me and like confiscate my Bitcoin in the future I don't think that's gonna be possible like anything in its early stages there's going to be teething problems I mean it's it's very unregulated at the moment so Mongkok depending on who you read wasn't particularly well-run I think what you're gonna see is an early stage fallout of probably quite a lot of businesses coming into it going out of it and then over time that will balance out and stabilize as as people become a little bit more responsible with how they manage Bitcoin effectively the ATM is the easiest way to trade Bitcoin for cash on the spot and advocates believe the machines will help bring the currency to the masses therefore disrupting the government financial complex still it took five minutes to register an account in order to buy the virtual currency and around 15 minutes to get a transaction confirmed and cashed out it's a little disappointing when contrasted with the hyper optimism in the Bitcoin community and most of the people who stopped by just wanted to gawk not buy I like the technology the technology whether Bitcoin stays or goes that technology is here to stay it's an excellent technology is the ability to send money from here to any part of the world instantaneously and at minimal fees to no fees at all depending on how you send it we need to do this like we have to disrupt finance in the same way we've disrupted all other industries the Internet in the way and sort of spreading kind of responsibility for an entire industry and crowd sourcing an industry has to happen in finance the same way it's happened in other industries as well and it will happen I think the Bitcoin is the first step to doing that I don't see why a financial payment system should be managed completely centrally there's no reason why that shouldn't be spread over a whole lot of different users I just think that right now I'm not sure I'd want to put my money into Bitcoin at this stage in my mind the success is defined by basically the number of uses of Bitcoin if you can use it to do more and more things that will be its success so now that I can cash out easily that's success if I can go to like say a taco truck in Austin and buy a taco with Bitcoin and they accept Bitcoin that is success there are now at least four Bitcoin ATMs in Austin one in Albuquerque one in Boston one coming in Seattle they're also in Calgary London South Korea and other places around the world some people believe they'll become as common as cash ATMs in under five years the entrepreneurs buying them sure hope so considering the Machine cost twenty five thousand dollars just for the hardware but hey that's only what like 40 bitcoins