Robocoin, the bi-directional Bitcoin ATM, is ramping up its nascent footprint — with launches planned for 10 more global locations. The company said today it will be shipping its first Bitcoin ATMs to two more U.S. locations — Boston and Seattle — and also ramping up globally. Read More
Bitcoin startup Lamassu Bitcoin Ventures, the makers of a Bitcoin ATM which promises to eat your paper (fiat) money and spit Bitcoins into your digital wallet in return, have funded their initial production run of 15 units a few hours after kicking off pre-orders (via their website) — taking the bulk of payments in Bitcoin, fittingly.
Presumably that means they’ve booked $60,000-$75,000 in sales revenue for the initial production run — based on the $4,000-$5,000 per machine price-tag they talked about at the Bitcoin London conference last month. Lamassu is not, however, confirming how much revenue they’ve generated at this point.
What’s the point of a Bitcoin ATM? The aim is to lower the barrier of entry to the digital cryptocurrency — which still very much ‘reeks of geeks’ (and investors) at this still early stage in its development – by letting people swap banknotes for Bitcoin in person. Of course there are myriad ways to do fiat-to-Bitcoin currency exchanges online but the Bitcoin ATM doesn’t require the user to sign up to an online exchange service in order to get some Bitcoin. (Albeit, users of the ATM do need to have their own Bitcoin wallet to store their exchanged BTCs).
The Bitcoin ATM accepts paper currency only but there’s no minimum limit (yes, you can exchange $1 to get around 0.009 Bitcoin, at current exchange rates, if you really want). It only accepts cash, so no debit/credit card payments — a deliberate choice by its creators to keep their costs and complexity capped by not having to deal with banks.
They argue it also makes things simpler for purchasers of the ATM itself, being as they don’t have to gain bank approval to get the machine up and running. However they do warn that buyers still need to make sure they comply with any pertinent financial regulations in their own country (Bitcoin regulations can’t even charitably be called ‘a work in progress’ yet, and the Bitcoin policy confusion varies from country to country).
The startup says it has had more than 150 inquires about the machine ahead of production. Some of the countries that have put in pre-orders are Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.S., Slovakia, Finland and Denmark, according to co-founder Zach Harvey.
While it’s funding the initial run from pre-orders and its own investment, Harvey said Lamassu may look to raise external funding in future. ”Investment is something we’re considering seriously for the next step of mass adoption,” he tells TechCrunch.
Lamassu expects to ship the first 15 units to buyers next month.
Here’s the pitch Harvey gave about the ATM at the Bitcoin London conference last month:
Converting the cash in your wallet to Bitcoin is one of the biggest hurdles to getting some skin in the digital crypto currency game. Time was when you had to meet a scruffily-dressed Bitcoin owner in person, at a corner street cafe, to get your hands on a few Bitcoins. Bitcoin’s times are changing though.
Startup Lamassu Bitcoin Ventures is aiming to simplify the process with its Bitcoin ATM machine (left). It’s showing off a prototype of its tablettop-sized ATM at the Bitcoin London conference taking place today. Its snappy tagline is ‘fiat to Bitcoin in 15 seconds’ – and in keeping with that promise the process is designed to be as simple as possible. And simplicity means accepting cash only — no card payments — to avoid having to deal with banks, says co-founder Zach Harvey.
“With our Bitcoin machine… you don’t need the bank’s approval to start running these Bitcoins machines. You only need cash,” he told the Bitcoin London conference today.
In keeping with the nascent Bitcoin ecosystem, the first prototype of the machine was only created in the founders’ garage back in February.
The machine has a touchscreen to step the depositor through the process; a camera for scanning their Bitcoin QR code where they want the exchanged currency deposited (the machine displays the current exchange rate on the front); and a slot for feeding bank notes into the ATM, which they say will support multiple currencies. Once the depositor has put their paper money in, the appropriate amount of Bitcoins are delivered to the Bitcoin address linked to the scanned QR code. The system takes around 10 to 20 minutes before the transaction is confirmed, according to other co-founder, Josh Harvey.
Harvey says Lamassu is planning to distribute the ATM machines globally – “ all around the world” — kicking off production at the end of August, for fall shipment. Where are the ATMs going to be situated exactly? Wherever buyers believe there is a Bitcoin demand they can tap in to – whether that’s inside a shopping mall with a high volume of people passing through or a small retailer that already accepts Bitcoin and wants to encourage more of its customers to start using the currency.
The startup is not going to be taking any kind of cut on the currency exchange itself – rather it plans to make a profit on the hardware units, which will sell for $4,000-$5,000 apiece. Likewise, it’s not selling Bitcoin support services around the machine — “we’re keeping out of that because of the regulatory issues,” says Josh. The startup stresses that buyers need to be sure the machine complies with any local financial regulations that might apply to Bitcoin.
Developing countries are one obvious target for the Bitcoin ATM, owing to the millions of people who still don’t have traditional bank accounts. “Once people know that all they need to do is use a kiosk to do their banking, why do they need banks?” added Zach. “You can jump over the old technology of banking systems.”
So while the payment giants and card companies are doing their best — via the likes of contactless payment technology — to kill off cash and funnel more transactions through their own centralised payment infrastructure, startups like Lamassu suggest cash could still play a role in a future currency mix, as Bitcoin’s hassle-free sidekick.
Could the next tulip mania actually have something to do with this form of e-currency known as Bitcoin? The jury is still out on this one, and if you are one who have invested a fair amount of real world money into some Bitcoin currency, perhaps you might be interested in checking out the Bitcoin ATM. The Bitcoin ATM is basically a small computer which will take your paper notes and convert them into Bitcoin, right on the spot, doing away with all the headache of figuring out various exchange rates and the like.
How does the Bitcoin ATM work? Well, it will first prompt the users to use the machine in order to scan a QR code on their smartphone, which will then inform the ATM as to where to send the Bitcoin. Once that is done, you will have to insert real world currency notes that are then gobbled up, counted and verified, before being “exchanged” as the corresponding amount of Bitcoin to your user account. Sounds like a chore? Not really, as the entire process takes approximately 15 seconds or so to complete. The startup behind the Bitcoin ATM would be Lamassu, and they claim that this is the first of its kind in the world. So far, a production mockup of the Bitcoin ATM is available as you can see above, where it will cost approximately $5,000 with cheaper deals applicable for wholesalers.
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