Removed.

[coinbiz]

Removed.

[mikewoods]

ATM leaves no traces about the buyer.
Most new bitcoin users have to give away their identity when buying their first bitcoin, and some of them are worried if it's even legal to use bitcoins.
So my guess is that anonymity makes ATMs quite useful.

[Interized]

They are a fail safe for both sides.

One day you won't be able to trade x currency for x anymore.

The world currency (euros, yens, etc.) was backed by the dollar, which was backed by gold.

Once they started figuring out that they could not trade USD for gold anymore, world governments went into a panic trying to get rid of the dollar.

The only way to make a money system work is on a global scale where anyone can verify all transactions.

The world had no way of knowing if the US actually had x amount of gold for x amount of dollars put into the system.

Rumors are China has been hoarding gold like crazy.

We are in a Gold bubble, because Bitcoin is here to take over the currency faulty currency system, as well as holding anything like gold for value/trading purposes.

The only purpose of Bitcoin is to trade and maintain value you put into the system without the losses of buying/spending power.

[glub0x]

i like the idea -- implemented in istanbul airport  -- to transform your spare foreign currency into bitcoin before going back home.

[Interized]

ATM leaves no traces about the buyer.
Most new bitcoin users have to give away their identity when buying their first bitcoin, and some of them are worried if it's even legal to use bitcoins.
So my guess is that anonymity makes ATMs quite useful.

Wrong, ATMs log your face, time of exchange and some can finger print etc.

Also, the Bitcoin network logs a bunch of stuff for the public to see which can match up with records.

[BTCisthefuture]

I think ease of use is the big factor for a lot of newer bitcoin uses. An ATM simply makes it easier for them to get bitcoins without having to put much thought into it.  One of the biggest barriers bitcoin faces right now for more mainstream adoption is the simple fact that its simply too confusing for the average person out there.  ATMS help eliminate at least some of the confusion.

Also it's probably very true that a lot of transactions on these ATM's are simply a marketing "gimmick" that has paid off very well since it's something still very new, gets a lot of press, raises a lot of questions from curious people, etc etc.   As more and more bitcoin ATM's hit the market I would expect to see they hype and "oh wow a bitcoin atm!' factor die down.  To put it simply,  it's such a new thing that people who may have never intended to buy bitcoins end up using it simply because they've never seen it before.

Personally I think a bitcoin ATM is currently a good investment,  that's just my take on it though. I don't know any of the numbers behind it.

[adub]

I've been working on the Bitcoin Operator thing here in the US for almost 6 months. If any of you are serious about looking into this and want to ask some questions, feel free to PM me or email me. Just go through the domain in my signature. I've learned a lot and I'm happy to share.

Aaron

[whtchocla7e]

ATM leaves no traces about the buyer.

Except a time-stamped photo matched with a bitcoined address.  

Anyway, I don't know if want to leave my private key on a public ATM. I would probably never use a bitcoin ATM for that reason.