williamj2543 (OP)
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August 24, 2014, 04:44:08 AM |
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Hey, I am currently on a vacation in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and I heard that a new bitcoin ATM was built. I looked on the internet to see where it was and it was only a 5 minute walk from my hotel. The bitcoin ATM was in a store called "hemp and co" (I don't like that it was in a hemp store, makes bitcoin seem more of a blackmarket currency only for hipsters and drugs) on 1102 Government Street. I went in, the machine was pretty big, looked nice. Theres a touch screen on it, with a cash output, a cash input, a hand scanner, a qr code scanner, and a credit card reader I think. I decided to try out selling the minimum amount of BTC, just for fun. The minimum amount was 20$, in 20$ increments, so I got 20$. The exchange rate was absolutely awful, it was about 100$ CAD less than the current market price, which is around a 20% reduction. I had to pay about 0.042 BTC for 20$. I didn't notice any other fees, I think the fee was put in the exchange rate. Selling was extremely simple and fast, but too fast. You click pay, and it prints out a voucher. After you click pay, you send the bitcoin to the qr code on the screen (address is also there), and it gives you I think 15 minutes to pay. You click redeem voucher once you send it, and then if your transaction was sent (doesn't need to be confirmed), it prints out your cash and away you go, no hand scanning for selling BTC. The problem with this is that it doesn't need to be confirmed. I could easily double spend that after I get my cash, and since they didn't get my handprint or anything, they couldn't track me down. Adding a confirmation would make the process take a lot longer, but maybe you could come back with your voucher 10 minutes later and redeem it then, that would be a good solution. Overall it was a pretty cool experience, first ATM experience with bitcoin, actually first real world experience with bitcoin, but I wouldn't use it again. I got ripped off about 0.005 BTC through a terrible exchange rate, and if you were selling a whole bitcoin, you would be ripped off 100$ CAD.
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