Yeah, that looks pretty consistent with what stats are showing. Of course YMMV in some areas as there will always be exceptions but the progress is clear.

Ironically I have NEVER used one yet... but now it has reached a point in which it is just a matter of time I do because the service has reached what I would call acceptable levels for me. Ie: Next time I travel to USA I will surely use it instead of exchanging my euros here (at a higher fee!).

Also I have seen some nearby local ATM's with fees as low as 1.5% (for selling) that I would have already used them if wanted to sell some (which I don't). I will anyways go some of these days and try it just for the heck of it.

Of course, those extremely low sell fees are probably a sign of being in an accumulation phase and will maybe be higher during the next "bubble" phase. Or maybe not.

In any case, current situation seems to be quite good and it is one critical point for the next step in mainstream adoption. Just think about the "traveling to foreign countries" use case... That will be huge.

I think it is time for a yearly update:

CoinATM 2019 EOY stats update: 6297 crypto ATMs installed worldwide

Please first read my last update (one year ago) as this post is a follow-up from there: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178336.msg48796571#msg48796571

As "predicted" this year it was not possible anymore to reach another doubling in Bitcoin ATM's installed but a more linear growth resulting in an 50% increase. Even tho it is still an impressive milestone of continuous growth that reflects maturity. More than 2000 newly installed crypto ATM's during an otherwise slow year.

Also, the rate of installations have accelerated during the past couple of months and could account for another easy 50% increase (3000+ new ATM's) for next year if all other factors remain constant.

The current density of ATM's worldwide is reaching very good levels. Main capitals keep growing and presence of ATMs have reached more than acceptable levels in some. For example, Las Vegas not only recovered from its past ATH of 95 ATM's (from a bottom of 65) but reached an impressive (for such an small area) of 121!

Also as predicted, the fees seems to have been lowered in those areas with more density probably due to increased competition.

Much more important is that SELL fees during 2019 have been constantly low in comparison to BUY fees. It is not uncommon to now find SELL fees of 1.5 to 3% where past year were almost double than that. This could be consistent to the argument that we are now in an accumulation phase so that ATM providers need to balance supply/demand via fee incentives. (If their pockets were full of BTC we would see the inverse effect in fees).

Those fees are now perfectly acceptable for the convenience of using an ATM, more so if you are a traveler to a foreign country and can also avoid currency exchange at an even higher fee.

It seems that progressive fees are starting to appear.... in some way, like establishing a buy fee of % + X$ fixed minimum amount. Also some operators offer OTC for bigger amounts at a better fee (something I would like to see implemented in the ATM itself soon).


I am still missing this but IIRC some manufacturer announced exactly that... I just don't see it really happened yet.


This has not changed. In fact we have advanced a couple of steps more. Eventually we will reach the destination.

Cheers!

Totally agree.

Bitcoin hasn't experienced a big market sell-off yet as it was born after the last one. So we don't really know how it would react but the most probable scenario is what you are saying. At least on the first stages of a financial crash, maybe it would recover faster than other assets though.

Let's just hope we don't have to experience that any time soon.

We are far from there. For that to happen, the margin longs should be squeezed first and way more shorts need to be piled up.

Maybe it is true we need to go to $6.5K first.
 
As Hairy says we are on schedule on the road to halving.

In a few months everything will be revealed.

Ouch.

Didn't Hairy say something about middle december dump?

The good thing about dumps is the following pump... unless another dump follows.

Bleh, it's been long time since I don't have any idea what the price gonna do, so let's just let it be. This is fine.

Parece que la última vez que Siuly se conectó al foro fue el 19 de Agosto.

Realmente se echan de menos sus análisis 

Eso va a depender mucho de tu concepto de "vida funcional". El tipo de paises en los que el sistema bancario está tan escasamente implantado que la diferencia no es muy grande con respecto a usar cash para todo ya de por si son paises que no cumplen mi criterio de "vida funcional". Puede que el de otra persona sí.

Así que en lo que a mi respecta la respuesta es NO. Con matices... has dicho "estar atado"... Qué quieres decir? Yo no me considero tan "atado". Necesito su servicio? Sí. Pero yo decido hasta que punto o si uso otro banco. Para mi es como decir que estoy atado a los grandes supermercados porque allí puedo comprar mis alimentos de forma cómoda y a un precio razonable.

La realidad es que cuanto más desarrollado es un país más dependiente es de su sistema bancario. De hecho es muy posible que la madurez de su sistema bancario y financiero haya sido uno de los factores que más hayan contribuido a su desarrollo.

Ahora bien, como usuario eres libre de intentar prescindir de un banco en tu operativa diaria... pero si a día de hoy eso ya implica renunciar a muchas comodidades no quiero ni imaginarme cómo será en los próximos años. Cada vez más complicado... y Bitcoin NO va a cambiar eso, más bien al contrario ya que aunque a corto plazo pueda parecer una "alternativa", si realmente "triunfa" lo que veremos es una mayor integración de Bitcoin (u otras crypto y stablecoins) en el sistema bancario y no al revés.

El tema del baneo por plagio, en mi opinión, se ha llevado a un extremo totalmente radical. La primera vez que me fijé en algunas "apelaciones" en meta me quede realmente sorprendido... Una cosa es apropiarse de una propiedad intelectual y otra incluir frases (en ocasiones por comodidad al no dominar el idioma) dentro de un post más largo. Frases, por supuesto, intrascendentes y que nada tienen que ver con "propiedad intelectual" o atribuirse un contenido ajeno.

Ahora bien, si se trata de un usuario que está constantemente haciendo eso se puede entender perfectamente el castigo... y por otra parte poco a poco ya se va viendo la (excesiva a mi juicio) seriedad con la que se lleva el tema por lo que cada vez sería más difícil alegar ignorancia. Aún así ahí entra lo de que puedan considerarse también posts que a lo mejor se escribieron hace muchos años y cuando el conocimiento de las normas era más bien escaso y nulo.

Por este camino va a haber que añadir un disclaimer cuando uno escriba, en broma, la famosa frase de "If you don't believe it or don't get it, I don't have the time to try to convince you, sorry." (*) o adjuntar una bibliografía a un post técnico por si acaso se escapa, inconscientemente, alguna frase o idea que ha leido previamente.

Quizás estoy exagerando, pero algunas (sólo algunas) apelaciones que he leído en meta me han parecido alucinantes en cuanto al exceso de celo. Y la sanción, que no suele estar graduada en función de la gravedad de los hechos, también. Y que conste que seguramente más del 95% de los baneos están SOBRADAMENTE justificados y son mucho más que un simple desliz o metedura de mata puntual.



(*) Satoshi Nakamoto

P.S.: Recuerdo un caso de un usuario que alegaba (y presentaba pruebas bastantes convincentes) que efectivamente se había plagiado... pero *a sí mismo* pues la cuenta de twitter supuestamente plagiada era LA SUYA. O usuarios con una cuenta alt en el foro, etc...

Really hope so.

I was never quite sure if he REALLY had sold all or most of his BTC at around $3K-$4K. I really hope he didn't or that he rebought soon after before the big bounce.

And indeed you did

Awesome story. Now the "Legend" of the WO hats is perfectly documented (with VB1001's effort) for posterity from all points of view.

You have surely given us a colourful gift to endure what would have otherwise been a dark and very boring crypto winter. Thanks for that!


P.S.: Now that I think about it, my hat is probably the darkest and least colourful of all hats to date... but I am the only one to blame for that lol

So it looks like we are at BETI -2.35 with an expected BETI 0 price of $76K

IIRC -2.3 was the previous lowest BETI score.

Probably not very useful anymore as it doesn't look like realtime price will ever cross with BETI 0 ever again but... just saying.

JFC JJG!!!

How do you expect me to reply to this if for *each* of my lines you post several paragraphs and all with intermixed quotes to further complicate any followup?!


Anyway it would be ungrateful on my part to not recognise your effort and good intention... Also for the most part, I do agree with the whole essence of what you posted there... which is a LOT! lol

I was somewhat inactive during the period 2014-2015 but it is my impression that there were more doom and gloom in comparison to this period. If too many people decides to keep hodling/buying just because of those predictions and when the time comes the outcome doesn't materialise -> problem.

The stock to flow analysis by PlanB is nice but it is just a model which could perfectly be wrong. Also, even if the *additional* supply is halved and it should have an impact on price, that amount is only a small part of the free float (which can and does change vastly depending on many other factors like FOMO/PANIC).

DOn't get me wrong... my money is on Bitcoin eventually reaching a new ATH in maybe less than 2 years after the halving. I just don't have the confidence to take it for granted nor do I feel the need to do so as I can do both fear and HODL at the same time.

Not reluctant at all. IIRC I was relieved "enough" when BTC climbed over $5K (not only because of the price, but the strenght and dynamics of the bounce) which is when I removed my "capitulation" status.

So yeah, my spirit is somewhat up when it comes to Bitcoin (IRL issues aside). Far from euphoric though... if you ever notice me too much euphoric please remind me to sell some this time (in case I "forget" to do it... again).

I am not very happy that, unlike during the 2014-2015 bear market, my BTC count has barely increased this time but I'll have to live with that.

Also I am still fearful that so much expectation from so many people about the halving could not result in the expected outcome and when I see "predictions" for the next 2-5 years like $50K, $100K and over I get nervous. Well, we will see. Whatever it has to be, just let it be. I will just HODL (and try to sell *some* when the time price comes).

^Agreed.

This "stability" is nerve wrecking btw.

BLeh, the badger was in control of the situation the whole time, he was just making the snake to get tired and not needed any help. Also it seems that one of the jackal dared to bite the badger and (most probably) lost all his teeth. Not unlike what shorters try from time to time to no avail. Nothing to see here.

Really funny yeah. Somehow the thread got locked after several JJG walls of text and before I could post some memes about Vod "throwing gas to a fire.gif".

Yup but... Was it figuratively? I really don't know. I really can't remember nor am completely sure after re-reading. Maybe my retrospective perception is wrong.

In any case it would be very interesting to hear what xhomerx was exactly thinking when he started it all

IIRC the first hats were not specifically intended to be worn as an avatar. Maybe xhomerx could clear this point and... WTF was he thinking when he came up with the idea

Also was it Hairy the first one to wear his (Genesis) hat as an avatar or was it Rosewater? Were it had been Rosewater that would surely reinforce the cap-itulation meaning of it.

There are also some semi hat related anecdotes like when Vod decided it was a good idea to poke/mess (presumably just for fun) with Mic and it was like the first time a thread out of WO got quickly filled with hats: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5065375.0