Bitcoin Forum

My friends and I are considering building bitcoin ATMs. We're still doing the necessary research and planning and we've been looking at existing ATMs like Lamassu. Based on what they've been reporting online (and other sources), it seems to be a pretty profitable business.

We understand that there are lots of regulations involved depending on the country of residence, but we are considering just building and selling the machines, not operating them. Off the bat, are there any other important considerations we should know? Red flags? Any feedback will be appreciated.

You should probably hire a lawyer instead of random people on the internet. You also should really post your country and other pertinent information such as what you really want to develop as "bitcoin ATM" is pretty general. A lot depends on how the machine actually operates.

Thanks for your response. We are just actually gathering as much information as we can and we of course are going through local channels.

We want to avoid dealing with lawyers and government regulations and that is why we actually just want to build and sell, not operate. Selling hardware/software doesn't need much permits/licenses.

Bulding ATMs isn`t cheap and you have to be sure that there is demand for bitcoin ATMs in your country.
I don`t think that the "build and sell" business model would work.Your cusomers will have to trust you about the quality of the ATMs.What if they don`t work properly?It`s very hard for a brand new business to build trust.
The "build and operate" business model is better for brand new companies in the bitcoin ATM business.
Good luck.

I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Your intentions are very good and helpful. I regularly sell my BTC but it is quite difficult because there are so many scamers, high transaction fees and when I sell btc on Remitano I always lose 0.0005 btc fee for them.
Really hope your project will succeed, because bitcoin is becoming more and more popular, so the number of people trading bitcoin has increased tremendously.

Why dont you go for it. I think bitcoin ATMs are being deployed in different states now already.

While technically true, keep in mind that whoever eventually operates your device, will have to adhere to certain rules and regulations themselves. And those will need to be reflected in your hardware and software, otherwise it's going to be hard to find operators. Potential buyers need to have reassurance that whatever product you are offering won't bring them into legal trouble. Otherwise they'll go buy somewhere else. It follows that although these rules and regulations arguably don't affect you as a hardware / software provider directly, it will still affect your business indirectly through your customers.

there is no regulation for it and wont be a problem.
You can just open a shop in the country and put your own atm machines inside and this shop will be just claiming to selling online products.

Simple

Min you need to register a company for building atm machines.I dont think you will get any other issue.

It would be nice if I had a bitcoin ATM, but I wonder how it would be

I haven't too much information and knowledge about Lamassu. But if those reports that are saying that it's profitable to start operating your own bitcoin ATM business there, go for the goal.

But don't just rely with those reports, keep n conducting your own research and it's the best way to believe on your reports because you did it by yourselves.

Why not give it a shot that you'll also operate those ATM's before selling to interested people or just have a business venture. Good luck with your business.

This is a very good concept. While there is still no crypto ATM out there, you should be having a prototype now.

I wonder how this ATM will function.

Will it dispense physical currency when you withdraw coin?

What will be the deciding factor and will it support what currency?

It doesnt really need permits for you to sell out those atms but on the amount you would earn for sure you would be questioned knowing these bitcoin atms wont really be cheap for sure.Your motives are good since it can somehow fasten up the adoption and the progress of bitcoin awareness to people regarding on its existence.If you can able to find out the thing would fasten up on trust building then this business would really make you fortune.

This is interesting. Some points, among others, that I took into consideration when I read this post and started researching are the following:
1. Laws and Regulations - sharing this link - http://www.bsp.gov.ph/publications/media.asp?id=3377
2. Profitability -  I am optimistic this would be profitable but more research, aside from what your team has already done, would be really helpful. Please share references if possible.
3. Operating in the Philippines - operations, safety of machine, best location, etc.

Good luck and I hope it becomes succesful!

There is a big need for Bitcoin ATMs - they do currently exist but not enough. About 1600 worldwide, and 900 some in the United States. And out of these, barely any support additional crypto, or the ability to sell (they are mostly buy Bitcoin only) - and most have crazy high fees (10-25%). We already started a movement to change that (https://www.coinspeaker.com/2017/10/24/bitcoin-atm-project-token-pre-sale-now-open/). Building them is a great idea, most companies today sell them for a lot, and if you added additional currency support you would be way ahead of the game.

Awesome to read that. You should also put Europe to your researches. There are many demands but only a few countries, that actually offer ATM's in Europe.

good idea. at least it should start and form the cities like Zug or kind of Crypto friendly cities , just my opinion

Since you are building hardware and not operating them there probably won’t be much regulation on it (if any), but I can’t even take a clear guess if I don’t know what country your from; and it would be best if you check with a lawyer instead of people on the internet.

The number of ATMS Bitcoin ( BTM) is growing every day, so does the number of ... Build a good relationship with the bank be important ...

That's possible because we have already Bitcoin ATM around the world today but it is more convenient that ATMs will do cash out not only with Bitcoin but also with other Altcoins like Ethereum and hard forks.

Back in 2013 we had a team and we tried to do excactly what you are thinking now.
Software for ATM and so on, we played with amny of them around and even designed our own - where we failed?

Back this time there was no ICOS and we sepend lots of our own bitcoins/money to research - results :-D, you need to really look out the box, if its profitable business today will it be when you are ready. Some mobile DEX maybe will be much better way to solve the problem you think to do - cheers.

sure building atm's is not cheap but they can always use a low end brand of equipment and tools in order to build it cheaply yet quality must still always be prioritize and i think there always a demand for this kind of business because bitcoin today is mostly recognized all over the world and most people theses days are now using it as an alternative to fiat money for easy transactions online and offline.


sure it would work and will be a succesful business today because of bitcoin trend.


i guess they need to ensure that their product will have the best quality and will run for years or decades and they can always do a warranty for their costumers to get satisfied if the products wont work properly.



yes your right , its hard for a newbie business brand to build trust , but all good brands like apple are always come from newbies.  and i believe they can earn trust to the public as long as they can market thier product verry well and provide the best experience to thier costumers.

Why are you only considering to do build and sell those ATM machines. If you are one of the pioneers on Lamassu to have that type of business, the competition will not be tough to you. But expect that there will be competitors that are going to come out when they see that your business has no competitor. I'm curious about the current research that you are doing. Could you share us on what are your gathered information base on your plans and research?

In my opinion.,you just cant owned an atm then sell it. There are so many steps and standard operating procedures before it can be done. So my opinion is why can’t you just make a system or program to link or merge with Visa,Bancnet etc. Because most of the atms are operated with Visa and bancnet...Im not sure with other country but if its that so it is more convinient. Because we can go on any atms and we just have to select a Bitcoin category. Its cool!

This is right if I do have the knowledge and the resources on bitcoin atm's then this would really give you some serious fortune and as being said you wont really have any competition knowing that bitcoin isn't known yet globally or on most countries on the world which if there are some several bitcoin users on your place then it would be an advantage.Later on selling out or exporting these atms will extent possible income.

There's no manipulation, no competition and why not take over the whole business industry of having an ATM all over Lamassu. But if they are a start up company, it's also good to take the risk for covering all ATM's on the places where they started to conduct researches. Profit for generating transactions of Bitcoin ATM + being a manufacturer itself of those ATM's that will also entertain international orders, why not give it a try right?

Obviously,  Bitcoin ATM is a great initiative for this era. day by day Bitcoin is getting popular and established currency so that when the Bitcoin holders will find the ATM then they will be glad to take this opportunity. But I think Bitcoin ATM is not an easy task, it requires a lot of approval for establishing ATM method. But you have to consider many things in terms of this project.

No one can really stop them if they would really like to try on their business offline. Its always worth to face the risk since this is business after all.If you wont try you wont able to find out if it would have the potential to make it big.Covering all atms on the places will just really act as a test phase same as you said this will like conduct research if it do have some spark or not. If they do have the capability and resources. Why not? It really worth to try talking on bitcoin is already growing larger and larger as the years have passed and these business will really boom up.

You've planned to sell it in USA? and offering token pre-sale to build more ATM machines?
This Bitcoin's ATM machine comply with AML and KYC regulations? as every service relate to money, have to fulfill legal permit and licenses, even though it's not affected your business directly, but no one would buy this machine if they have to deal with legal authority.

The competition in the Bitcoin ATM manufacturing business is extremely competitive. If you are building them for your own use is one thing. To sell on the open market is another.  Be prepared to go up against some very well financed competition.

If you already have a quite successful business that attracts a reasonable amount of clients and you won't depend on revenue generated from the ATM. Then I would certainly take the plunge and go for it. But if your entire business model is built around the ATM or you would be dependent on the revenue it generates than I would be a little more cautious. Your revenue heavily depends on how many bitcoin enthousiast you have in your city, if it's a big city etc.

this is really interisting but so hard to do, good luck team :) :) :)

why BTC ATMS and not Crypto ATMS?

i mean BTC isnt great at all.

high transaction costs etc.

I think a lot of people would be interested in using your product! Keep gathering info and good luck!

where i live anyone can get a ATM in their house , you will only pay a small tax.

I've seen such some similar threads which planned to build or sell bitcoin ATM machine.
Bitcoin ATMs are on high demand in US, Canada, and Russia. It's a good project if you can build a lot of ATM machines which comply with AML and KYC regulations, in order to prevent any problem for you and your customers in the future. Well, it's not easy to sell a machine outside the country, but I recommend to do so as you may find another market with high demand as well.
https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-atms-rise-russia/

You are wrong. There are loads of AML/KYC regulations to consider and this will even affect your design. If you live in a country where you have to adhere to these AML/KYC regulations, then you have to add certain features. A camera and scanner would be needed to collect the photo ID or social security documents or facial photos of the person, depending on what would be needed to adhere to these regulations.

So it is not as straight forward as most people would have thought. ^hmmmmm^

Yes all people have freedom to build own ATM but me i do not like to build my own bitcoin ATM if there is ATM already in my area, but here in my country there is ATM but i do not know where is the location but the demand is to high in my area because lots of people now are earning and using bitcoin and some of them have no bank accounts that is why they are hardly to cash out their bitcoin that is why bitcoin ATM is more needed in my area.

i think if people in your city have the bitcoin ATM then they will easy to deposit and withdraw their bitcoin into fiat and i think its a good news that in your country have the machine. i think if there is a high demand to using the machine, then maybe soon there will be more bitcoin ATM in your city and it helps your people to cash out their bitcoin. beside that, if in your city is success from using the machine, i think the other country will using the machine too and we can see bitcoin ATM will be available in every where.

Bitcoin only or will you consider other digital currencies?

Bitcoin atms are not so far from us now, yeah there definetely needs for some exchange giant come ahead and work on it.. down the line in 2k18 we will see it happening!! You guys thoughts?

I think it is a good idea and most of us who like the advent of bitcoin and blockchain technology will likely using the ATM In our verious countries. You will just need to create good marketing strategy for it in other to make it big in this your plans business. Many Africa countries are in need of such ATM as regulations in africa is not as strong as United States of America or China.

ATM is going to be useful rather than falling in line and waiting for the cashier to process everything for a cash withdrawal. It's much easier and very convenient.

Do you think Bitcoin ATMs will be popular?
I don't think.. because many peoples prefer buy bitcoin via exchange online.
I read that Bitcoin ATMs exist already

ATM is an amenity, I think everyone will love it. and I heard in europe that bitcoin ATM is being produced, this is a new breakthrough and I really support it.
at the beginning may not be popular only time will give answer.

the main thing that will crush your idea is that transaction of BTC can last 3 or more hours.... I think that noone is gonna to stay near ATM for 3.5 hours

is really a good idea on having a bitcoin atm.. currently now most ppl have btc so i think is a good idea to it.

I don't think so. As long as that transaction is made, you can leave the atm and and check it later if you have received it.

Bitcoin is a virtual currency and if its gets into a physical form will it have the same value like it s now or will it take the form of the physical currency which is already there in every country has their own. It would be interesting to watch will the physical coins be send out form the ATM machines or will the codes be given and they can use those coupon code unto certain value which they withdraw.

It is possible to build bitcoin atm’s. People who do not know about Bitcoin and how it works will now be curious and it is also one way of advertising Bitcoin. 😊

It will be a great idea .People will love this one.It wll change the huge differene in crypto digital curency. If it happens all the people are very familiar with crypto.

You still need to look at the regulation because it is still a business and then make a study first if there are already people/company who are doing this or if you will be the first one. It would be a good business especially if you will be able to get in contact with the one who will operate them. With an increasing bitcoin users but with limited bitcoin ATM available in their place at the moment, this would be a good opportunity to bring on that business. It is better thereafter if you can have clients in several countries if you will be able to implement this one.

That's probably complicated and huge project although there are already Bitcoin ATMs in different cities in Australia and will be more throughout the world. I think you're making another one that compete these ATMs that has been deployed. You're going to make a research on them and try to figure out what are the problems they're facing and how they solve different issues.

They are profitable, but it wont make you rich quick.
Don't rush into it.There are some good expenses.. gl

I don't think that you would need to build a good relationship on banks since they wont really bother and I would rather believe that tax department would really be the one who would really come after you but yet if you do have
this kind of business then paying up tax completely shouldn't really be a problem at all. Competition would really be lesser considering that bitcoin isn't too familiar by most countries or places on the world.

Are there any in the Cheshire area? Is there a site or locator online?

Plenty of bitcoin atms will sure exist in the future so I don't think you'll get much profit with just building and selling them. You should own and run them because banks will surely make dozens faster and you can't sell it to anyone anymore.

Bitcoin ATMs would give bitcoin investors and holders access to their funds. This will be a great achievement if accomplished. Wish you all the best

For now i think bitcoin ATM is not in demand yet because not all people used bitcoin but this is one good thing to advertised bitcoin.
I heard some news that here in my area there are Bitcoin ATM here in our country but i do not know where is the exact location of the ATM.
I think much better to have bitcoin bank first before building ATM.

Before seilling a bitcoin ATM, you should consider a strong customer service support. That is the number one rule when building a business specially in bitcoin. They are more valuable than gold! You also have to keep an eye with ATM skimming activity and 2FA option would be awesome! Use google authenticator or text message.

It requires a lot of capital to build a wide network, a kind of satellite is needed to use an ATM.
and what about the price fluctuations of BTC and Altcoin.?
I do not understand the concept of this ATM.

ATMs which help to cash bitcoin now are very popular. I don't know as it becomes at the legislative level. However, in Ukraine and Russia there are already such ATMs

That is a good idea.As bitcoin popularity increases atm machines are also helpful to have easier process and more accessible means in terms of transactions.Hopefully those machines can operate in our country too ,especially on the different provinces of the Philippines.
Having a bitcoin atm machine is more convenient way to cash out aside from those remittance centers and banks who accepted bitcoin transactions because of its availability 24/7. So I am really looking forward for the success of  your proposed project.Hopefully it will be a success.Good luck to you!

You can consider a peer to peer ATM like ABRA offers. Even merchant chain store like 7-11 could potentially be your ATM partner.

It is not going to be that simple. you should consult a lawyer before doing anything and know more about regulations even if you plan buying your machines only since your customers have to trust you.
Everything should be regulated since you are going to sell sophisticated machines to customers from different countries with different regulations.