Bitcoin Forum

History was made in Bitcoin world on Tuesday when the world’s first Bitcoin ATM opened in Vancouver, B.C.
At the Waves Coffee House in downtown Vancouver, 81 people made Bitcoin transactions that totaled $10,000. About one-third of those 81 were first-time Bitcoin users.
Operated by Las Vegas-based Robocoin and Vancouver-based Bitcoiniacs, the ATM scans your palm and allows you to exchange cash for Bitcoin, or do the reverse. Customers can make up to $3,000 worth of Bitcoin exchanges per day.
If you aren’t familiar with Bitcoin, it’s the emerging decentralized, digital currency gaining popularity and making mainstream news headlines lately in light of the FBI shutting down Silk Road.
We recently wrote about a Seattle grilled cheese foodtruck that is now accepting Bitcoin. While there’s no question that some people and businesses love the freedom, openness and low rates of the digital option, it’s unclear at this point how or if government institutions will try to regulate the system.

With the approx. 7% buy/sell rate premium the machine should be paying for itself quickly... that's roughly $700 in fees today alone.

This should get the attention of the private ATM market, where $70 in fees is probably a good day.

On Bitcoin Talk the Robocoin CEO said machines run about $20,000 a piece, that's not bad in my opinion.  Might be a good investment for a bitcoin entrepreneur.  I wonder what kind of wait list they have for new machines.

If you live in a larger city it may be a cool new opportunity.  I'm in Seoul and thinking about trying to set one up.

7% on 10K is already $700 on day 1. 

Very neat to be able to trace these transactions too I might add. 

History was made in Bitcoin world on Tuesday when the world’s first Bitcoin ATM opened in Operated by Las Vegas-based Robocoin and Vancouver-based Bitcoiniacs, the ATM scans your palm and allows you to exchange cash for Bitcoin, or do the reverse. Customers can make up to $3,000 worth of Bitcoin exchanges per day.

Pretty scary they scans your palm and store this information. Hopefully future ATMs will not do this

i love the idea but anyone willing to pay 7% just defeats the whole point behind bitcoin... fees were supposed to come down not go up ... silly people

In the video they charge about 2% when buying bitcoins and 5% when cashing out. I don't know if it is updated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoiAewo5K7s#t=50

Ok but presumably you are only going one way at  a a time.  Unless you feel like burning money that is.

I would love to see day 2 numbers  :)

insult me ::)

I like your username. 
Wow on those day 2 numbers!!!

Day 2 was quite impressive:

"$30,000 on its second day (or $27,800 US/139 BTC), says Mitchell Demeter of Bitcoin broker Bitcoiniacs,"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/31/why-are-people-so-excited-about-a-bitcoin-atm/

One of the comments in the forbes article brought up a very good point.  Put these ATMs in or near international airports for quick and easy transfer to national currency.

The day 2 Robocoin ATM turnover in BTC was greater than the whole month of October for the Ripple system.

The day 2 Robocoin ATM turnover in BTC was greater than the whole month of October for the Ripple system.

Is this a joke, or can you show where you got this info?  Out of curiousity, I checked Bitcoincharts and it doesn't match up with your claim.  Check here: http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/rippleXRP_trades.html

735 BTC in one day = $147,000, yup

Is this a joke, or can you show where you got this info?  Out of curiousity, I checked Bitcoincharts and it doesn't match up with your claim.  Check here: http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/rippleXRP_trades.html

I am comparing BTC traded on Ripple, not Ripple's internal currency as well.

http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/rippleUSD.html

Fair enough.  Consider that you are drawing comparisons between a 4 year old mature technology with a beta that has been open-source for 1 month.  I would not expect to see much action until about a year or 2 into open-source, similar to Bitcoin's start around 2009-2010.

Fair enough.  Consider that you are drawing comparisons between a 4 year old mature technology with a beta that has been open-source for 1 month.  I would not expect to see much action until about a year or 2 into open-source, similar to Bitcoin's start around 2009-2010.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't he comparing a brand new interface (ATM) with a beta that has been open-source fro 1 month, in that he is comparing how many BTC were traded using each platform? 

Unless Ripple can roll out their "endpoints" fast (faster than ATMs roll out), they will lose to the ATM, which can effectively do the same thing - provide a means for people to get money into and out of the system.

Fair enough.  Consider that you are drawing comparisons between a 4 year old mature technology with a beta that has been open-source for 1 month.  I would not expect to see much action until about a year or 2 into open-source, similar to Bitcoin's start around 2009-2010.

who cares? who needs? :)

One of the comments in the forbes article brought up a very good point.  Put these ATMs in or near international airports for quick and easy transfer to national currency.

C'mon let's not rain on robocoin's parade by letting this thread denigrate into yet another ripple smackdown. ::)

There is one very simple reason that any vc or marketing specialist will understand, why ripple can never succeed (at least in its current form):

It has no elevator pitch.

And probably can never have one due to its inherent complexity.

Bitcion can allow you to beat WU on fees and speed for international money transmission.

Bitcoin can not be seized to bail out bankers who made bad decisions.

This is pretty cool. I do not think the palm scanner is necessary. Silly Canadian financial regulations..

Well, living in Calgary, I am interested to see where they're going to be placing it in the city. I haven't been able to find any information regarding this, but last time I checked was about a week ago.

Would be a great investment for sure.

IIRC they weren't required to, but they did it for security down the line.

The palm scans are not stored with any personal info, they are just checked in the machine to ensure that the same person does not exchange more than $3000 per day.

Elevator pitches aren't for explaining the details.  They are for grabbing someone's attention if you happen to get lucky and be in an elevator with them for 10 seconds.

...

Well, living in Calgary, I am interested to see where they're going to be placing it in the city. I haven't been able to find any information regarding this, but last time I checked was about a week ago.

Would be a great investment for sure.

IIRC they weren't required to, but they did it for security down the line.

Are there any publicly available stats on how much turnover the Vancouver ATM is doing...?

Well I hope they don't make a hand-print registry that said I may use it if it comes near our city if the price spikes XD
3% or not volatility is bigger on some days XD

The palm scans are not stored with any personal info, they are just checked in the machine to ensure that the same person does not exchange more than $3000 per day.

The palm scans are not stored with any personal info, they are just checked in the machine to ensure that the same person does not exchange more than $3000 per day.