Personal security / privacy at Bitcoin ATM machines?

[timk225]

I saw a bitcoin ATM recently, and poked around the options to see what the screens looked like.  It wants you to enter a phone number to receive a text message code at, to continue doing your transaction.

What's the reason for this?  How does this make anything more secure?  What if someone had a stolen phone that had no passcode on it, and they used it to get that text message code?  How does this do anything except make your phone number known and trackable to anyone running that ATM machine?

I guess it isn't a big deal to buy a Tracfone and use that to get the text code, so it doesn't have your name tied to it, but I don't see the logic behind getting this texted code to continue the transaction in the first place.

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[unholycactus]

IIRC, it's because there's a cap on how much you can withdraw per day per user.
Unless you have multiple phones, that works.

Although I can't remember why you would limit someone from buying all the coins in the ATM.

Regardless, ATMs aren't really a a good way to trade coins if you're worried about privacy, especially because of its physical location.