Bloomberg News: Worlds Second Bitcoin ATM opens in Istanbul Ataturk Airport

[bitkoyun]

Bloomberg News channel broadcasting in Turkey announced today "Worlds second bitcoin ATM in Istanbul Ataturk Airport"
https://twitter.com/BitcoinHaber/status/402889779206840320

Travelersbox kiosk is a pioneer in its kind to convert leftover money to gift cards, paypal, etc..
And among many other things to bitcoin

This is a revolutionary step in Turkey's bitcoin history

@bitcoinhaber

[Carlton Banks]

The airport!??!

Istanbul airport!?!?!?

And in Turkey of all places???


That's a very interesting move. Airport's operate with long and deep state oversight. Turkish government + whole political/military ruling class has said "yes" to Bitcoin in a big way here, that's truly fascinating. And Turkey's a serious player in world affairs for many a reason. Hmmm.

[bitkoyun]

Travelers Box Turns Leftover Foreign Currency Into Bitcoin at the Airport
http://www.coindesk.com/travelers-box-foreign-currency-bitcoin-airport/

Bitcoin Kiosk of Istanbul
http://bitcoin-turkiye.blogspot.com/2013/11/bitcoin-kiosk-of-istanbul-travelersbox.html

[trout]

exchanging leftover currency for btc-  that's a great idea!
I would have surely used it when I was there last summer.
And I'd  be so much the richer now.

[RodeoX]

Damn! I fly through Ataturk when I go to my apartment in Istanbul. This is awesome, maybe now I can also get lira when I arrive!?

[beetcoin]

exchanging leftover currency for btc-  that's a great idea!
I would have surely used it when I was there last summer.
And I'd  be so much the richer now.

yeah, such a brilliant idea.. i never thought of it.

i went to thailand in 2011.. and i still have about 1500 baht leftover, almost 3 years later.

[Lauda]

So lets all fly to Istanbul?
Great news definitely.

[Carlton Banks]

Seeing as it's located at the airport, I wonder which fiat currencies it supports? Can't be that many, the machine would have to be pretty large to hold decent quantities for even a few major world currencies (and it would also have to be more secure too as it would be holding more money for the sake of more usage from people on outbound flights going elsewhere).

I guess it won't matter if Bitcoin becomes widely accepted at international transport hubs across the world, you travel with BTC, convert to local what you need, then ditch the local for BTC again when you move on.

[beetcoin]

Seeing as it's located at the airport, I wonder which fiat currencies it supports? Can't be that many, the machine would have to be pretty large to hold decent quantities for even a few major world currencies (and it would also have to be more secure too as it would be holding more money for the sake of more usage from people on outbound flights going elsewhere).

I guess it won't matter if Bitcoin becomes widely accepted at international transport hubs across the world, you travel with BTC, convert to local what you need, then ditch the local for BTC again when you move on.

i would assume it would be the turkish lira, USD, and the Euro. considering it's in a turkish airport, the lira makes sense.. and the USD/Euro are the two biggest currencies.

[kik1977]

Although it doesn't seem to be an ATM.. don't think you can convert BTC to FIAT

[cypherdoc]

the beauty of this one is that it just appeared out of nowhere.  i've not seen one peep of this strategy here or on Reddit.

WAY TO GO!

[Luckybit]

The airport!??!

Istanbul airport!?!?!?

And in Turkey of all places???


That's a very interesting move. Airport's operate with long and deep state oversight. Turkish government + whole political/military ruling class has said "yes" to Bitcoin in a big way here, that's truly fascinating. And Turkey's a serious player in world affairs for many a reason. Hmmm.

That is a very good place to put an ATM.

[bitbitz]

Sweet! They begin to appear!

[dominicwin]

Great even if its an airport I don't travel through ever. Let's keep seeing more of them! Moscow, London, JFK!

[Carlton Banks]

The airport!??!

Istanbul airport!?!?!?

And in Turkey of all places???


That's a very interesting move. Airport's operate with long and deep state oversight. Turkish government + whole political/military ruling class has said "yes" to Bitcoin in a big way here, that's truly fascinating. And Turkey's a serious player in world affairs for many a reason. Hmmm.

That is a very good place to put an ATM.

Read it again, Einstein.

[Carlton Banks]

Fucks sake.


I'm not questioning the business sense in putting it in an airport, the reason for that couldn't be any more obvious.


What I'm saying is: Turkey

• Military traditionally has a lot of political power
• NATO member
• Big friends with the US (war on terror, Iraq, Syria etc)
• Alleged to be heavily involved in alot of subterfuge at many levels all over Middle East and Central Asia, hence....
• Secret Service/Secret Police
• Gangsters
• Drug kingpins
• Drug transit (heroin out of Afghanistan, cannabis from Pakistan & India)

I could go on, there's more to it than I know, I'm sure.

So in a country with these various competing powerful interests, to get the OK to stick a Bitcoin ATM in their MAIN AIRPORT is going to need some high level of co-operation, anyone representing the above interests who dislike this idea will have a decent hand to play if they want to let it be known that they want that thing to disappear and not come back.

Get it?

[Carlton Banks]

In fact, Turkey really is a nexus of all sorts of different aspects of the world coming together, this is where the EU meets the Middle East, where Islam meets Christianity, where NATO meets the Middle East and Central Asia...

Turkey getting on board, and in a way that's as significant as putting a BTC bureau de change in Istanbul airport, it's a very important measure of the impact Bitcoin is having.

[PenAndPaper]

So in a country with these various competing powerful interests, to get the OK to stick a Bitcoin ATM in their MAIN AIRPORT is going to need some high level of co-operation, anyone representing the above interests who dislike this idea will have a decent hand to play if they want to let it be known that they want that thing to disappear and not come back.

I think you are overthinking this.
Most probably the company has a license for a machine with which you can fund your digital accounts on paypal etc.

They just added bitcoin as an option and probably noone cared enough to check what bitcoin is.
Officials saw a logo next to paypal,ebay and amazon and thought of it as another payment processor or something...

It's not even a bitcoin atm after all.

[Carlton Banks]

So in a country with these various competing powerful interests, to get the OK to stick a Bitcoin ATM in their MAIN AIRPORT is going to need some high level of co-operation, anyone representing the above interests who dislike this idea will have a decent hand to play if they want to let it be known that they want that thing to disappear and not come back.

I think you are overthinking this.
Most probably the company has a license for a machine with which you can fund your digital accounts on paypal etc.

They just added bitcoin as an option and probably noone cared enough to check what bitcoin is.
Officials saw a logo next to paypal,ebay and amazon and thought of it as another payment processor or something...

It's not even a bitcoin atm after all.

Well, we'll see how it pans out. The truth has a habit of becoming known in the end. All those powerful lobbies do exist in Turkey though, and it is a major center of converegnce for differing aspects of the world, that much is definitely true.

[RodeoX]

the beauty of this one is that it just appeared out of nowhere.  i've not seen one peep of this strategy here or on Reddit.

WAY TO GO!

I bet we see more and more of this as bitcoin moves outside our English speaking community and into the world. Turkey is an super cool place. They are not quite Europe, not quite the middle east. If you have not been there I highly recommend it. Flights can be very reasonable. I've seen Chicago to Istanbul direct for $539! and inside Turkey you can catch flights for like $25.