The Bitcoin ATM Has a Dirty Secret: It Needs a Chaperone

[hilariousandco]

That man is a vulture! What lack of imagination

On the contrary.

As with most articles they got a bunch of small details wrong.

I am an owner of Bitcoiniacs, and this article is sensationalizing a minor incident. We didn't hire an ATM attendant to protect the ATM from poachers, we hired them to help people learn how to use the ATM and about Bitcoin. Also, the fee wasn't 7% at the time, it was 5%, and this "poacher" wasn't advertising lower fees, he was saying that if you wanted to buy more than $3000 (the limit of the ATM) to talk to him.

Let's put it this way: it costs so much to manage the ATM that it's a miracle we're still in business.

Ha, media sensationalism strikes again.

[1715073385]

1715073385

[1715073385]

1715073385

[1715073385]

1715073385

[1715073385]

1715073385

[RGBKey]

This is pretty funny, but if you're going to charge a ridiculous fee, this is going to hapoen. We use bitcoin so we don't have to deal with fees, remember?

[hilariousandco]

This is pretty funny, but if you're going to charge a ridiculous fee, this is going to hapoen. We use bitcoin so we don't have to deal with fees, remember?

Capitalists gonna capitalise. You've got to remember they're providing a service so you pay for the convenience. Exchanges aren't free either.

[MarketNeutral]

This is pretty funny, but if you're going to charge a ridiculous fee, this is going to hapoen. We use bitcoin so we don't have to deal with fees, remember?

We do? 

If you think using Bitcoin means not having to deal with fees, I have some bad news for you.

[empoweoqwj]

This is pretty funny, but if you're going to charge a ridiculous fee, this is going to hapoen. We use bitcoin so we don't have to deal with fees, remember?

Capitalists gonna capitalise. You've got to remember they're providing a service so you pay for the convenience. Exchanges aren't free either.

True. It should be more expensive than exchanges as it saves you time + you get your coins immediately. But not *much* more expensive. Otherwise you get competition, whether its localbitcoiners camping next to the machine, or another machine. Competition is a good thing

[zulu860]

i would've punched him in the face for that if i was the owner smh face legal actions later lol but foreal i wouldve kicked him out in a heated argument

[empoweoqwj]

i would've punched him in the face for that if i was the owner smh face legal actions later lol but foreal i wouldve kicked him out in a heated argument

Very mature of ya

So if you owned a shoe shop and someone set up a shoe shop next door, you would presumably do the same?

[Littleshop]

i would've punched him in the face for that if i was the owner smh face legal actions later lol but foreal i wouldve kicked him out in a heated argument

Very mature of ya

So if you owned a shoe shop and someone set up a shoe shop next door, you would presumably do the same?

Nope.  But if they were inside of your shop doing the same you have a different problem and certainly have the right to kick them out.

[empoweoqwj]

i would've punched him in the face for that if i was the owner smh face legal actions later lol but foreal i wouldve kicked him out in a heated argument

Very mature of ya

So if you owned a shoe shop and someone set up a shoe shop next door, you would presumably do the same?

Nope.  But if they were inside of your shop doing the same you have a different problem and certainly have the right to kick them out.

The ATM machine is in a public place. How could anyone set up "inside" that? Slide themselves into the machine itself and pop out when a customer arrives?

[roslinpl]

The Bitcoin ATM Has a Dirty Secret: It Needs a Chaperone

When Mitchell Demeter and Jackson Warren opened the world’s first bitcoin ATM at a coffee shop in Vancouver, it was an instant success. People actually lined up to use the machine, which processed about $1 million in digital currency transactions over its first month.

But one day in November, a few weeks after launching the ATM, Demeter noticed something peculiar as he perused the machine’s transaction data at his office, across town from the coffee shop. At one point, the machine had voided 15 transactions in a row, for no obvious reason. So he drove down to the cafe, and as he walked through the front door, he immediately saw the problem.

A man was sitting next to the machine, at one of the cafe’s wooden tables, and he was holding a sign that read: “Don’t Pay Transaction Fees.” This very human entrepreneur, you see, was undercutting the world’s first bitcoin ATM. As people walked in to use the machine — which was charging a 7 percent transaction fee — he offered to exchange their money, by hand, at a lower rate.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/bitcoin_atm/

democracy - Invited by a man

[leopard2]

not so cool, the ATM requires ID, so all info is going directly into NSA data center

https://robocoinkiosk.com/customers

"All you need is your email, palm, government ID, face and cash."


(how generous, no DNA and no semen sample needed as of yet) 

best reason to buy from the human seller  

[stompix]

not so cool, the ATM requires ID, so all info is going directly into NSA data center

https://robocoinkiosk.com/customers

"All you need is your email, palm, government ID, face and cash."


(how generous, no DNA and no semen sample needed as of yet) 

best reason to buy from the human seller  

Those ATMs will be very popular , if they do the collecting

[empoweoqwj]

not so cool, the ATM requires ID, so all info is going directly into NSA data center

https://robocoinkiosk.com/customers

"All you need is your email, palm, government ID, face and cash."


(how generous, no DNA and no semen sample needed as of yet) 

best reason to buy from the human seller  

Yeah, they have to comply with all that KYC AML stuff, or they wouldn't be legal, so definitely a good reason to buy from the guy standing next to the machine. Unless he's an agent