Bitcoin ATMs spreading very slowly it seems...

[Hugroll]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.
But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

I don't see the purpose of ATM's, bitcoin is supposed to be anonymous, and ATM's just defeat that purpose. why buy it in public when you can buy it online without ever having to leave your house

[ranochigo]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.
But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

I don't see the purpose of ATM's, bitcoin is supposed to be anonymous, and ATM's just defeat that purpose. why buy it in public when you can buy it online without ever having to leave your house

For most cases, online companies would require you to submit documents if they are KYC/AML compliant. Some require due to the high possibility of charge backs. The process can be quite long and issues may occur. ATMs allow you to buy Bitcoin with little verifications, eg. no proof of address and are much more convenient. You can always cover your face and buy Bitcoins at ATM.

[uxgpf]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.
But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

I don't see the purpose of ATM's, bitcoin is supposed to be anonymous, and ATM's just defeat that purpose. why buy it in public when you can buy it online without ever having to leave your house

In Finland buying or withdrawing from ATM is more anonymous than doing the same in most online exchanges. There's no KYC or bank account required. Where can you buy/sell bitcoins online with/for cash?
Localbitcoins, maybe.

[pattu1]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.
But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

I don't see the purpose of ATM's, bitcoin is supposed to be anonymous, and ATM's just defeat that purpose. why buy it in public when you can buy it online without ever having to leave your house

If you buy it online with fiat, there definitely is a trace. You are kidding yourself if you think that it is anonymous.
If you buy it at an ATM, the degree of anonymity is higher.

[Trayber]

I've used bitcoin ATM in Orlando FL, and Las Vegas NV this year and both worked great. Very fast transactions. Wish Bitcoin ATM would come to city I live in but nothing yet.

[wearehatetherules]

may be every ATM have different developer,and it makes some ATM not good as you hope,and not avaliable in every city.

[Sourgummies]

The problem is advertising,I walked into a shop and they had a atm and there was no signs or anything. Had no idea as it did not show up on any atm locator sites.
Then you get atms that are no longer around showing up as active.

[OROBTC]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.

But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

Maybe BTC is not catching on?  Or have they changed the rules FORCING showing ID?  (The one BTM I used in NYC required no ID).


How are BTC ATMs catching on (or not)?

It depends what sites are you using to check Bitcoin ATM growth pretty sure there are a few hundred to thousand around now see 457 at least.
http://cointelegraph.com/news/114264/bitnational-unveils-canadas-largest-atm-network-offering-btc-below-market-pri
http://www.bitnational.com/areas-of-operation.html
http://coinatmradar.com/

Just to make sure that some which might not be listed are shown.

I found one at one of your links, at least it says there is one.  I will go check it out ASAP.  I hope that they don't require ID, even if for small purchases.

It may be that BTC has to attain a critical mass, which apparently we have not reached yet.

I'll do my part as quickly as I can! 

[ranochigo]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.
But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

I don't see the purpose of ATM's, bitcoin is supposed to be anonymous, and ATM's just defeat that purpose. why buy it in public when you can buy it online without ever having to leave your house

If you buy it online with fiat, there definitely is a trace. You are kidding yourself if you think that it is anonymous.
If you buy it at an ATM, the degree of anonymity is higher.

Depending on location and type of machine, you may need to submit your documents, either ID or driver license to buy or sell Bitcoins. ATMs like lamassu ship with it disabled and can be enabled depending on the location's AML/KYC policies. Some are actually enforced by the manufacturer themselves, one example is robocoin machines.

[NorrisK]

I can concert fiat straight to bitcoin grom my bank account in under one minute.. Why would i bother finding an atm to end up paying 8% fees when i can also buy at 2-3% fees grom my computer?

The good thing about the atms is mainly the visibility aspect i think.

[CoinATMRadar]

I'm running coinatmradar site, and wanted just to give some insights here..

The growth according to the chart is really slowing down:



The updated stats can be found on the site, it's updated regularly.

But this slowdown is more due to removal of existing locations, however, I would not say that installations of new machines is slower than before.
It is more the question about updating the map and cleaning not-working anymore locations.

Some locations are not profitable, but I know cases where operators have 150-300K a month in volume on regular basis.
Charging on average 6% this is quite a nice business opportunity that can pay back the whole investment of the machine in one month.

Of course, this is not happening overnight and it is a big job to choose proper location and promote it.

Also I agree that bitcoin ATMs are a very nice form of getting/selling bitcoins easily for cash, many people argued that bitcoin ATMs were redundant in bitcoin space. I can't agree with this.
But I think it is fair enough to talk about cash<->bitcoin services in general, and there are literally thousands.
I wrote about it in the blog a while ago (http://coinatmradar.com/blog/buy-or-sell-bitcoins-for-cash-bitcoin-atm-alternatives/), and there are still several services, which I have not yet added to the list.
Those usually use existing infrustructure - and adoption happens on much broader level than bitcoin ATMs.

So I think we are on the right path here.

[HeroCat]

Bitcoin ATMs spreading will be faster, when banks will start to expand Bitcoin ATM network  I hope banks will start to implement BTC soon 

[OROBTC]

Bitcoin ATMs spreading will be faster, when banks will start to expand Bitcoin ATM network   I hope banks will start to implement BTC soon  

HeroCat, I hope you  are right, but don't hold your breath (you'll die, as they say in Texas).

Many believe that BTC is an direct enemy and threat to the banking system, but I do not know how all of this will evolve.

I just would like to see MOAR BTC ATMs as soon as possible, and as soon as I can get to the ONE in my city (not close alas), well I will try it out.  And report back here to bitcointalk.

I did use one in New York City once less than a year ago (Sonny's Grocery, 10th Ave. at about 60th St.).  Worked great (no ID!)!  I then had to go to a bank ATM to fill my wallet back up with CA$H...

[bryant.coleman]

The demand is going down. In my country, there are several Bitcoin ATMs (All of them installed in either 2013 or 2014). Until 2014, I could witness short, but healthy queues in front of these ATMs very frequently. But nowadays, I am hardly seeing anyone using them. The initial euphoria is over, and the interest seems to be going down. 

[CoinATMRadar]

The demand is going down. In my country, there are several Bitcoin ATMs (All of them installed in either 2013 or 2014). Until 2014, I could witness short, but healthy queues in front of these ATMs very frequently. But nowadays, I am hardly seeing anyone using them. The initial euphoria is over, and the interest seems to be going down. 

That's until the next swings/rally in price, you will see how people will line up again.

[Mickeyb]

The demand is going down. In my country, there are several Bitcoin ATMs (All of them installed in either 2013 or 2014). Until 2014, I could witness short, but healthy queues in front of these ATMs very frequently. But nowadays, I am hardly seeing anyone using them. The initial euphoria is over, and the interest seems to be going down. 

That's until the next swings/rally in price, you will see how people will line up again.

Exactly this. It's normal that the demand is down while this crazy bear market still lasts. Human psychology is weird, but people low buying when the price is climbing, even though in this case, they will be paying much higher price.

The same works for selling, that's when people unfortunately tend to sell and not buy. This is exactly what's happening at the moment. We need a spark to start the next climb up, to put Bitcoin in news headlines and the demand will pick up again.

[the joint]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.
But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

I don't see the purpose of ATM's, bitcoin is supposed to be anonymous, and ATM's just defeat that purpose. why buy it in public when you can buy it online without ever having to leave your house

Bitcoin is not supposed to be anonymous, and it isn't.  What it does do is separate identities from accounts (i.e. BTC addresses), but that doesn't translate to anonymity in the real world.  It would be more private to use cash to buy BTC at an ATM than it would to buy from (for example) Coinbase , after which your bank now has a record of your purchase.  Furthermore, anytime you buy something with BTC and have it shipped to you, your anonymity is jeopardized.  At best, BTC just obfuscates the relationship between transactions and identities with layers of complexity, but BTC isn't supposed to be about anonymity, but rather decentralization and personal responsibility/ownership.

[edric]

...

Every month or so I check the couple of websites (showing BTC ATMs) as well as the Facebook page re the International Bitcoin group.

But, I am dismayed that these BTC ATMs (I saw "BTMs" written elsewhere, clever) do not appear anywhere near my city.

Maybe BTC is not catching on?  Or have they changed the rules FORCING showing ID?  (The one BTM I used in NYC required no ID).


How are BTC ATMs catching on (or not)?

They are catching on across the US I've noticed.  In my city they range from 10%-5% in fees. No ID for less than 2000. Awesome chart CoinATMRadar

[edric]

The demand is going down. In my country, there are several Bitcoin ATMs (All of them installed in either 2013 or 2014). Until 2014, I could witness short, but healthy queues in front of these ATMs very frequently. But nowadays, I am hardly seeing anyone using them. The initial euphoria is over, and the interest seems to be going down. 

That's until the next swings/rally in price, you will see how people will line up again.

Once you learn about the exchanges, investing BTC, and connecting bank accounts, etc. you don't need to pay the ATM fees. 

[oblivi]

I think when people saw that Tested documentary (the Tested YouTube channel gets millions of view) of the video called"we buy our first Bitcoin" it was a terrible hit on Bitcoin's popularity when it basically showcased an archaic way to deal with the ATM machines requiring ridiculous levels of ID to get some Bitcoin out of it.