Bitcoin Forum

I was impressed when I ran across a Lamassu ATM in my local bagel shop (suburb of Boston), sitting next to a regular USD cash ATM -- made me think that Bitcoin had really hit mainstream.

I didn't have time to stop and try using the machine, was wondering if anybody else has used these machines, and if they are considered safe to use, esp when selling?

https://i.imgur.com/IQXqYBVl.jpg

why don't you give it a try and share your experience with us?

I don't know about that ATM but coinradar shows 3 Lamassu ATMs in Boston and they all share one thing that ensures I wouldn't use them even if all exchanges are down.


This is no longer a business practice, it's showing your possible customers the middle finger.


LE:
I missed the suburb part
https://coinatmradar.com/bitcoin_atm/6347/bitcoin-atm-lamassu-acton-bagels-plus/
same fees... :'( :'( :'(

Sure. Next time I go I'll try a buy, even with the crappy fees:

Ehh at this point I pretty much think bitcoin ATMs are almost irrelevant. I mean yea, any publicity is good publicity, but if someone were to use one of those ATMs to buy bitcoin solely due to curiosity and later learned how the ATMs are ripping them off with humongous price increases, then it would definitely leave a bad taste in their mouth.

You are very lucky that you met such an ATM, personally I have never met such ATMs, and if I saw it, I would definitely try to use it.

I think you're lucky too. Me and a lot of people here have not yet seen the Bitcoin ATM. These ATMs need to become more widespread.

Airports, Shopping Malls, Squares ... If the number increases, the recognition will increase.

Good to see these guys springing up everywhere, it is the easiest way for newbies to get some coins. Fees are super high but when the price rises it will mitigate the losses. Overall, they are worth the purchase assuming they will hodl

I finally got back to the bagel shop today and bought USD $20 worth of BTC. It was very easy to use. Of course the fees are steep as described earlier in this thread. For $20 the amount I actually received was 0.004635 BTC, which was $16.82 USD, @ rate of $3,628.91 per coin at the time of purchase, which means 15.9% in fees. Yikes!

It did not report the bitcoin transaction fee on the lamassu screen, but my wallet server tells me this:

note: The AMOUNT TRANSACTED includes: my 0.004635 + 0.01030371 BTC to some other address.

So if I am understanding things then most of the 15.9% in fees went to the owner/operator of the machine.

Me, feeding the lamassu:

https://i.imgur.com/4VlUnzd.png

There was 2 Bitcoin ATM's in my country, but I haven't tried to use. I just don't have any reasons to do that when I can buy Bitcoins from exchange without going out from my home and with much better rates and lower fees. I probably would use it only in urgent situation. OP, I see that you also not planning to use Bitcoin ATM's regular and only tried to see how it works. I'm not really sure who are users of Bitcoin ATM's, maybe people who want to buy Bitcoins anonymously.
I'm quite sceptical about Bitcoin ATM's, but there are reports that they are quite popular and growing number of installed machines shows it. But my country is a bit different because last year both ATM's were removed due to formal regulations and not clear things with taxes.

Agreed. Although it is a start. There's not much in the way of demand at the moment so they can charge a premium. When there's more demand, there'll also be more supply and therefore competition and then we'll see prices/fees starting to come down close to the point of being reasonable. I have to think that a lot of these ATMs are a little shady right now and a way to try cash out in secret. I suppose for a lot of people it's cheaper than tax.