Bitcoin Forum

We definitely have an uphill battle ahead of us. A good chunk of the population here hate change, are distrustful of technology, and are generally proud of their own ignorance when it comes to anything outside of their immediate bubble.

Case in point, look at this thread on Reddit where I'm 90% certain they are downvoting anything that has to do with Bitcoin without even addressing what is being said:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Hawaii/comments/2fi6a0/so_we_launched_hawaiis_first_bitcoin_atm_this/


My friends and I are still dedicated to making things happen here in Hawaii, since despite all the negativity we are also have a growing base of support... but I thought it wise to at least include the wider Bitcoin community in on this so they can understand what is waiting for them in the more reclusive markets.

They won't be able to dive for sunken bitcoins.  ;)
Seriously, just don't worry about it. Make sure you are known as the first. Bank call themselves the First National blah blah Bank and other such names because it instills confidence. When they come, they will want to come to someone with experience.

Yeah, we have fortunately cinched the first mover spot here. There were one or two other companies flirting with the idea (one even bought two Lammasu) but we were the first to launch. If nothing else, no one can ever take that away from us now.

Any pictures of your rig at location ?

I would think that the public would have a general positive reaction to BTC ATMs. Most ATMs in the past have been very successful. They have also gotten a lot of positive press. I would suggest contacting the local media to see if they can do a story on your ATM, and hopefully that will be more helpful then social media.

Remember that anyone in the world can post on Reddit, but only a very small number of people (anyone who is living/is in Hawaii) can use your ATM.

There are pictures in the actual article yes:  http://bitcoinist.net/hawaii-gets-its-first-bitcoin-atm/


And we have thankfully been receiving a lot of positive feedback from people who have gone down to the store to use the unit. However, that reddit thread does highlight how some of the people in our community currently view cryptocurrency. I look forward to the day when they are forced to backpedal but for now we've got an uphill battle in terms of local adoption.

Luckily, we also have constantly refreshing supply of international consumers so even as the locals are turning their noses up at the tech there will be people visiting the islands who understand and appreciate it's utility.

Just focus on the quick and relevant service I am sure with the time people will accept the change.

Well, you are #1. You did do it first, so, good job with that.

But, as you pointed out, people here don't know about bitcoin, and if they did know they wouldn't care, and if they did care they would think its bad.

There simply has to be a better reason for people to buy it other than "its cool."

Maybe if Zippy's and L&L started selling plate lunches for .01 BTC, that would be a start. I guess that would have to be for mini plate right now.

I wish you the best of luck but it might be several years before Hawaii starts caring about bitcoin.

Well the good news is that with the recent price drop the machine is seeing heavy traffic (came close to selling out a few times) and I'm being bombarded personally by people who want to buy direct. So I'm not THAT worried about adoption. People will come around eventually, once the conditions are right. All it really takes is a dramatic price change or a big news story.

Hey that's good to hear.

Lets just hope the dramatic price change isn't in this same direction.

what places around your ATM or in Hawaii at all already accept bitcoin. The ATM would be useless if there is no where to spend the coins. So just curious what places do you have in Hawaii that now accept bitcoins as payments

Congratulations fumanchu.    

I think we are going to start moving pretty fast when momentum picks up towards critical mass adoption when BTC starts snowballing again.  As mad money jokes,   we may even see a book about bitcoin at Costco. :)


As far as companies in Hawaii accepting bitcoin there is a bodyboard/surf company that will be accepting it very soon.  

http://www.getballistic.com
http://www.ballisticbodyboards.com
http://www.daboards.com  

Website is being redesigned and updated to integrate bitcoin,   by web developer.

Well the shop that hosts the ATM sells rare stamps and coins which you can't use anywhere, and you currently can't use bitcoin to buy anything on Oahu, so it was actually pretty smart to place it there. I mean, of all places to host it in Honolulu.

It may get more traffic somewhere like the Ala Moana shopping center but they probably want a bigger cut, and it would be better to wait until major retailers start accepting bitcoin.

That's the thing though. In terms of speed of transaction, you just can't beat the credit card. Most people are pretty happy paying for their item with credit (or debit)...

If the speed of a BTC transaction can't match a credit card transaction, imagine how much longer lines would be if everybody used bitcoin for retail purchases.

I'd be happy to buy a vintage aloha shirt from an independent retailer using bitcoin, but would just as soon save my bitcoins for online purchases and use cash or debit (or credit).

So its important that Hawaii residents at least have a facet to easily purchase bitcoin if they want to choose, but yeah, there's not much to actually do with it here.

Well done Hawaii!
ATM there is needed, lots of people will go there to spend their holidays.

What requeriments you need to withdraw?

You do not need to spend your bitcoin locally. Anyone who uses the OP's ATM has the option of buying things online or investing in bitcoin related businesses.

My team and I are working on solving some of those problems in two ways. First we're doing free bitcoin integration services for local businesses, showing them how accepting Bitcoin improves their public image and allows for electronic transactions with zero risk of charge back.

We are also building a platform into our production model ATMs that will allow people to buy/sell goods and services using cryptocurrency (we are half way through the seed round of funding for that now with the development being maybe 1 month away from completion). I agree though that this town needs more options as to what to do with your crypto, so we are working to provide those options.

It's a lot of work opening up a new market but I think it will be worth it in the end.

Rebranding does not work nearly as well as it used to, and most things we trust in this world is really a facade... All is good until something goes wrong, and you are likely to be the one holding the bag.

Cool... Good luck to you, it seems like quite an undertaking.

You're doing well! Keep up the good work!

And its blind faith statements like this why Bitcoin is going no where.

Did you read the Ops starting post

They are not a technology friendly state, they do not like change, thus 1 little ATM is not the light at the end of the tunnel for them, its just an obstacle, one they can and will easily avoid.

No offense to OP yo have your priorities in skew my friend, in order for your ATM to work well you will need places that accept bitcoins, what you should have done first is get businesses in the area to adopt and accept the coin, even if you have to do the footwork it would have been worth it for you in the end. An ATM will interest few people, however being that your area is a HUGE vacation area, if you could get people to accept bitcoins in gift shops, small restaurants or other places like that and put your ATM in the middle of the stores accepting BTC how much better do you think it will do. If I were you I would go out now, waste no time and spend the winter months trying to get  businesses on board, get Tshirts and have some of the "Bitcoin Accepted Here" signs and stickers ready to hand out, even if you have to help them set the system up and get them a wallet and help them to adopt BTC I would do that.

In addition you placed your ATM in a place that is already not very accepted, so you have to turst what he has in his shop to be the trust factor in your business now, what he sells and what he does is a great reflection on your ATM and what it stands for. because what he has is tangible and the consumers against change will connect his products and services directly with your ATM.

What you have done would be like a miner who wants to mine bitcoin so he prepays his electric bill for 5000 dollars and buys one 1 Thash dragon to begin his mining business. the electric is useless if you dont have the machines to support the cost, the fewer machines you have the less BTC you make the longer it takes to collect BTC the higher the difficulty the higher the difficulty the less you collect.

Do you see what I mean?

Why does there need to be places that accept bitcoin in Hawaii in order for the bitcoin ATM to be successful in Hawaii? This is not the case for most other locations that have bitcoin ATMs. As it stands now there are very few places that accept bitcoin in a retail environment, probably less then there are bitcoin ATMs.

I would  love to use that Hawaii ATM one day :P

In Indonesia recently a few bitcoin enthusiasts managed to convert one of the islands  there to be Bitcoin Island, where everything can be paid with bitcoins. It bodes extremely well with tourism there. Hope to see Hawaii being fully Bitcoin friendly in the future

That's a Bitcoin vending machine, not an ATM. You can buy Bitcoins with currency, but can't get currency out.

ATM? which company? which exchange rate?

Well for starters Hawaii already has quite a few places that accept bitcoin though services like Gyft (thats how I do my shopping) and we are already in talks with businesses around the BTM's location about utilizing our integration services that will allow them to accept bitcoin seamlessly. So we aren't simply pushing BTMs with the hopes they will change the market but rather we are pushing from both sides at the same time.

In reality the machine we have now is just a conversation piece, to get people talking about the technology. That's also part of the reason why we placed it in a shop that sells collectible coins, stamps, and currency. The people that visit that store regularly are exactly the kind of people who stand a good chance of understanding BTC because they understand the history of currency (the guy who runs the store actually wrote the book on Hawaiian Currency).

So I'm not sure what you mean by your assertion about the location being "not very accepted" because that business has been there in the center of the business district since 1979 and is run by a family that has operated such businesses in Hawaii for generations. They are about as accepted as a business gets.

BTM's aren't even my companies core competency, it's really systems management which we will demonstrate with the launch of our proprietary machines later this year (stay tuned). However, in a low adoption state such as Hawaii we felt the need to get the dialogue going well before we were done with our own product launch and the current machine has done so with gusto. Everyday I wake up to emails, phone calls, and text messages from people asking about the machine down on Bishop street or the technology in general. So for now, mission accomplished but we've still got a long way to go if we want to see Bitcoin really hit the mainstream market. That's something we should ALL be working towards too.

 

I don't think your choice for your BTC ATM is a very good one. You want to get as much foot traffic to your BTC ATM as possible so anyone who wishes to buy bitcoin from your ATM can do so once they pass it (like an impulse purchase, or if not an impulse purchase it would be something they come back to). If you have your BTC ATM is a low foot traffic location then you are only doing the owner of the shop the BTC ATM is located in, as it will generate additional foot traffic to that store from people wanting to buy bitcoin from your ATM

you should target tourist looking to exchange their money into wtv colored money you use Hawaii  ???

just a thought.

Ahahahaha... Good one. Yes us sovereign kingdomers of Hawaii threw out the dollar in favor of Colored Money many decades ago. We also accept seashells.

I have to say, props to the crypto community for reclaiming the word "colored" from old racists. (I'm referencing the advent of "colored coins" and not the poster if you are wondering.).. These sentences probably have no meaning if you live outside the U.S.

It's in the middle of downtown at the busiest intersection in the area in full view of anyone who walks by. Short of placing it in a touristy area, you'd be hard pressed to find a busier spot.

And as I said, this is about starting the dialogue not generating profit. That location has already netted us 3 solid investors because that's the kind of person that frequents Hawaiian Stamp and Coin and that's the kind of person we need on our side as this thing picks up steam in our region.

Keep up the good work.!! I somehow dont see it as much of a success in Hawaii anytime soon though..!! but keep it going.!! we need more of this.!

Great job!  People here often speak about how Hawaii should attract more tech entrepreneurs which in turn would generate more brain trust and less brain drain.  Let's be honest, island visionaries like us are a rare breed here.
 
I personally applaud any effort such as yours where you have decided to step outside of your comfort zone, forgo the sun and surf time, and instead take the time to research bitcoin while you develop, invest and launch this project.  Let's continue all of our efforts to ensure that hope for a better Hawaii exists to those who live here and that folks like us remain a resource for those who wish to live here and flex their entrepreneurial muscles like you just did.

This is pretty cool. I look forward to trying a Bitcoin ATM at some point whenever I'm visiting the US.

yes ,what you said was right, so many people are  so

The best reason for Hawaii residents to buy Bitcoins now is for internet gambling.  Hawaii residents spend very large sums to fly to Las Vegas and pull the handles of slot machines, since there is no legalized gambling in Hawaii.  Buying Bitcoins locally can get them playing quickly on Seals with Clubs or other sites.

On the other hand, visitors who fly to Hawaii often wish to buy high quality "organic herbs" grown in the islands for local use.  Bitcoins might have a roll in that market, if a fast and anonymous distribution method is developed.  Avoiding an open exchange of goods for money has some advantages in that enterprise.  And it is a lucrative market.

Give the people what they want and can't get any other way.  Don't compete with Walmart.  Don't try to sell ice cubes to Eskimos.

Those lava flows must be pissing people off then, eh?   ;)

I know Hawaiians value their privacy so there's a good talking point to begin with.

I understand your frustration, but try to stay calm and work on spreading awareness without being pushy. People are generally very protective of their ignorance and are just waiting for an opportunity to label you with something bad. But people are also naturally curious. So if you calmly but persistently emit a certain message or idea, people will soon want to know more about it and will come to you by themselves. People want to get value by using effort rather than accept the same thing by being force-fed. Also, always focus on "what clear and immediate benefit they get out of this" and not how cool something is or how it can change the world for the better. :)