

Built for Bitcoin. Next Run: Early 2014 - siliconesoul
https://lamassu.is/

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jwr
It's not a "Bitcoin ATM". It's a "Buy Bitcoins for cash" machine. And there is
a huge difference.

I'll get excited when I see a machine that DISPENSES cash for Bitcoin,
anonymously. That will be a breakthrough. For the moment, in spite of many
claims, Bitcoin remains the most easily trackable currency and there is no way
that I know of to get money _out_ of the Bitcoin system in a way that can't be
tracked.

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user24
> there is no way that I know of to get money out of the Bitcoin system in a
> way that can't be tracked.

[https://localbitcoins.com/](https://localbitcoins.com/)

> LocalBitcoins.com is a marketplace for trading bitcoins locally to cash or
> online payments of your choice.

~~~
sneak
IANAL, but from my layperson's understanding of FinCEN's statements, selling
bitcoins on localbitcoins.com (indeed, even offering to sell them) without a
MSB license is a felony.

I deleted my profile on there when someone pointed that out to me.

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jzwinck
This machine accepts tons of world currencies. This will be much to the
disadvantage of its owner, who will now have to try to change $20 in each of a
dozen currencies to the local fiat currency. Doing this will be somewhere
within a triangle of difficult, annoying, and expensive. Once owners figure
this out, they will probably demand a way to program their machines to reject
most currencies, just like everyone else does.

Accepting "currencies from over 200 countries" is not a good thing when there
aren't that many countries in the world with currency you'd want to hold. Nor
does it reassure us about the machine's ability to reject counterfeit notes--
owners won't be able to verify notes they don't normally use, and BTC will
ensure that fraudulent depositors have low risk of being caught.

~~~
nly
I think it means the note acceptor is physically capable of recognising notes
from 200 countries. You presumably only configure it to accept notes from one
currency at a time.

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user24
I think "Bitcoin ATM" should feature in the title.

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mikkom
I'm not sure if the "compact size" is such a good thing - There is a reason
why ATMs are so big..

(A junkie with a crowbar)

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sktrdie
I would love to see these in airports! There's already lots of security there
so no need to make them huge.

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haakon
I'd like to see the reverse in airports: Land in some strange country,
immediately get local currency for bitcoins.

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csomar
The device might be interesting though. If you have some remaining bills and
you are lazy to convert them. I have, maybe, $100 of cash in many different
currencies remaining from my travels.

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ok_craig
I used one of these the other day to try to buy $1 worth of bitcoin. It spun
forever and I had to leave. Don't know if it ever actually went through or
not, but it should've given me a timeout message way before 5 minutes of
standing there.

~~~
luke_s
Really? I'm kind of amazed by this whole thing - I never thought there would
be a desire to purchase bitcoins in real life with physical cash. I always
thought of it more as a online thing people would do via exchanges, smart
phone apps, etc.

If you don't mind me asking - Where was the machine? Why were you buying
bitcoins there vs just using an online exchange?

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lewispollard
I guess it adds another layer on anonymity to it. Online exchanges often
require your name and address, and even if they don't, you're probably going
to be funding it via a debit card or bank account which can be traced back to
you. By using cash, there's no way of identifying who purchased the bitcoins
(except via cctv I guess)

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julien_c
What's the business model for operators/buyers of the Bitcoin machine?

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brd
"The operator of the machine, be it the distributor or individual owner is
responsible for loading the machine with bitcoins. In other words, he who
holds the private key."

"The operator of the machine sets the fees and ticker prices. That too is
easily set via the administrative interface."

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oleganza
It's a bitcoin vending machine. Owner of a bar/cafe/shop can accept bitcoins
for payments and load them in this machine to convert them to cash. Those who
want to spend bitcoins don't need to find those who want to buy them.

Shops have easier way to accept and convert bitcoins into local currency =>
more places to spend bitcoins => more places where to buy bitcoins => more
people using bitcoins => value grows => more shop owners are interested in
keeping some BTC as an investment => less need for local currency => less
friction => more bitcoin adoption => local currencies die out of
hyperinflation (aka massive sell off) => fully deflationary economy => we all
die in a deflationary spiral (not really ;-)

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michaelmior
The machine doesn't do BTC to cash, but rather the other way around.

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idlephilosopher
Indeed, but a cafe owner can accept bitcoins as payment for their goods, and
then sell those same bitcoins to the public via the machine. This takes away
_some_ of the friction from bitcoins becoming just another payment form like
credit cards.

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michaelmior
Good point. I hadn't thought of that workflow :)

