How Bitcoin ATMs Work?

in #bitcoin6 years ago

Ok, so this is some interesting subject in my opinion because the first payout from my Bitcoin was on ATMs.

I also bought some Bitcoins (about 200$) via ATMs and it was a great experience at the beginning.

There are 8 different types of Bitcoin ATMs;

  • Robocoin
  • Lamassu
  • Genesis1
  • Coinplug
  • Umbrellab
  • PayMaQ
  • BTM
  • BTC-O-MATIC

In my country, Croatia we have 4 Bitcoin ATMs and it's great for this small country, but it's not perfect as it seems, for example in the capital of Croatia - Zagreb, there is a Bitcoin ATM that doesn't work. You can't buy any Bitcoins and you can't also withdraw any of it, so it was a terrible experience to work with it.

In Split, I had a much better experience - it was fast, simple and fees weren't big, but things changed there too- fees are just too big and I met the owner of that ATM and he gave me an advice to not sell or buy anything there because i will just lose my money, he also talked something about Chinese miners, but I didn't understand him well.

ATMs are great, because you can see all of them on site https://coinatmradar.com/ - so you can travel all around the world to find the best ATM for our needs.

For example, if you want to buy or sell Bitcoins, you will pay - Buy: 7.0%, Sell: 8.7%

But, if you think about Coinbase and banks, this is not so high - because if the bank see that your transactions were made from cryptos, you will also pay some taxes (taxes in Croatia for cryptocurrencies are 12%.)

So, if you decide to buy or sell some of your cryptos at ATM, I will explain you how simple is that;

  1. You must install some wallet on your iPhone or Android (I'm using Jaxx)
  2. After the installation, you will se your unique QR code.
  3. When you ''meet'' your ATM, just be ready with your phone (you don't have to be connected on the Internet)
  4. Put your screen with your QR code near the ATM - it will give you all instructions
  5. You must decide if you want sell or buy BItcoins
  6. You will get a paper and there will be a cost of your transaction (fees and everything else)
  7. That's it :)

At the moment in the world (in 63 countries) are 2464 ATMs!

Thanks for reading this - I hope it was helpful!

Sort:  

Nice explanation! There is a Bitcoin ATM about a half an hour away from me and I've used it a couple of times. It certainly is very easy to use, as long as the scanner on it is clean and you turn up the brightness of your phone if you are using it to display your wallet address. The fees on the machine near me were minimal, and I recieved my Bitcoin in a very short amount of time. Thanks for writing about this! I've been wondering if it's worth it investing in one and placing it in a high-traffic location...I have a feeling it would be an awesome way to make some money! Keep up the good work!