Topic: Greece’s New 2-Way Bitcoin ATM Processed 20 Transactions in 1st Day (Read 1012 times)

Why should one Bitcoin ATM in Greece have any measurable effect on Bitcoin as a whole? Of course it's nice to see more adoption, but I think the people here greatly overestimate the impact that Greek people have or could possibly have on Bitcoin.


Why would anyone get the idea to store paper wallets in a safe deposit box? Precious metals might be stored at a bank for nostalgic reasons... but there are definitely more intelligent ways to secure your Bitcoin than trusting a bank.

ya.ya.yo!

In case anyone's curious, here's a link to the article I mentioned that discussed confiscation of cash and precious metals from safe deposit boxes:

http://etfdailynews.com/2015/07/14/greeks-cant-tap-cash-gold-silver-in-bank-safety-deposit-boxes/

I suppose this means it could be a bad idea to store your paper wallets in a safe deposit box!

Excellent post. Nothing has been fixed indeed, and Greeks will have to go through another austerity plan.

Greeks might start slowly adopting Bitcoin... As for the other countries, I only think they'll start seeing Bitcoin as viable option when/if they reach Greece's magnitude of debt and crisis.


Just goes out to show how unsafe things are on banks...

As for the number of transaction, I think it's perfectly fine. Bitcoin is only now starting to be widely spread there, the BTM is new and Greeks simply don't have euros to convert to Bitcoin! Their first morning volume surrounding 2000€ was quite good, in my opinion.


"Whales" relate whatever news they want with Bitcoin

To me bitcoin ATM's are some of the best uses for anonymity if they are made right.  A perfect machine is only money in and only bitcoin out, no cards, IDs, palm prints, or photos. 

Turn all your bitcoin into fiat,  wait a couple of days, and go to a different bitcoin ATM or two and turn it back into Bitcoin.  Now it is completely washed. 

Much better than any of those privacy coins that still leaves a digital trail no matter if people say it doesn't.

The truth is that good ole cash is still by far the best anonymity tech their is, and washing bitcoin through a layer of cash completely cleans it.

It's not really an issue of anonymity, it's just the fact that you are required to trust exchanges with your information.  I don't know who runs btc-e, I do know who runs Bter, and I don't want either of them to have my bank account number.

As for how long it takes to find an ATM, use this:

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atm-map/

All the ones near me take cash, no questions asked.

How does that saying go? .... Once bitten... twise shy?

The Greek people got burned by their banks... The banks are the face of the government controls. So many people would now for the first time consider other alternatives like Bitcoin.

These ATM's are a NEW way to stuff it to the banks... saying to them.. "You are not our ONLY option anymore"

There are now a HUGE responsibility on their shoulders to make this first experience as good as possible. Most Bitcoin ATM's are very intimidating and some people could be put off from Bitcoin, if it's not

handled in a proffesional manner. {24 hour support, should be a minimum requirement} 

1) you need to investigate for the right atm that suite you not an easy task, what if you rely on atm only, and you can't find one that suit your need of not having your personal data collected? i don't like to waste time...

2) well you were implying that exchange are more traceable because you give them phone number ecc..., but the true is that atm are not a safe heaven either, when we talk about traceability, bitcoin on the other hand can be played around to be less traceable

otherwise how come(i carry this example everytime someone start talking about bitcoin not being anon at all) they didn't find who's stole all those bitcoin at bitstamp?

3) i was referring to electronic payment only, it's the future of money, especially if we want bitcoin to succeed

4) exchange was only an example, they are not less anon than atm, that was my point

5) same as above, exchange are not a good example of anon but they are not worse than atm, if you really want to cash with fully privacy i guess your only solution is to go locally

In that case I agree that it wouldn't be much different from an online exchange, so I would recommend ATMs that don't require an account or sign-in.

But for international travelers, Bitcoin ATMs would be the ideal way to get local currency, and to get rid of your local currency before you leave the country.



No, I didn't say anything about that.  Do you really think that Bitcoin is not traceable?



But when you say cash won't exist and we'll use Bitcoin instead, what is that?



And if you put cash into a Bitcoin ATM?  Yes ATMs have camera that take your picture, but if you're buying BTC at Cryptsy then they already have your picture AND your driver's license.



You can't deposit fiat money to those exchanges without them having your bank or credit card information.  So you still need a place to buy BTC, and an ATM would be one option.

I don't think Bitcoin and Greek crisis are that much related. I mean look at the price development. The ATM machine is just another community accepting Bitcoin, nothing more. The crisis is still not fixed, so Let's see how this pans out.

uhm i know that many atm ask you for personal data, and anyway do you really think that atm are not traceable...a bit naive if you ask me, everything that work with visa circuit and mastercard or whatever other, can be tracked back easily if they want and if you are moving big amount

besides this there are exchange that don't want any number or anything if you can manage to work with a low amount, like 1k-2k per day

Coinbase requires your bank account number.  Poloniex wants your Social Security Number to trade altcoins.

Bitcoin cannot be truly decentralized if it depends heavily on exchanges - but it can't be widely adopted if it requires meeting a stranger from the internet and telling them how much cash you're bringing. 

i don't think so it's better for them to buy on exchange or in some more way that it is faster like circle, we are moving toward online payment and everything that is sorrounding online activity

i think ATM will be obsolete in future when cash will not exist anymore or will be very limited, and surely a bit pointless with bitcoin

That would be a great step towards adoption and stability
It seems a bit strange but in this case it would also be more attractive than a Bitcoin Credit or Debit card that is dependent on a Greek Bank to access money, ATM's are quite useful at times.

We need more Bitcoin ATMs. 

When people ask, "How do I get some Bitcoin?", we can just tell them "From any Bitcoin ATM."

Our perspective on this is so weird.
People are losing their life savings, but more than that, it seems like another opportunity for Bitcoin to us.
I wonder if events such as this, causing extreme loss of trust in the central authority will be the primary factor pushing BTC going forward.

If they decide to raid the kitty, they will try to take a slice of everything, be it your beanie baby, your gold, your cash or your bitcoin!

The problem is that they can't just take anything that isn't stored by the banks, it gets a lot more complicated to take thinks like Bitcoin, especially from me, as I don't know my private key or seeds, I seem to have forgotten them.  My PMs were lost in a boating accident too, so they can't take them either!

This is too much.  SO what if they had a valuable collectable in the safe box, like the original beanie baby or something like that?  Maybe a comic book like superman #1?  Would they take that too?  Time and time again through out history it has been proven that holding too much of your wealth in a bank is a bad idea. 

Does it seem like that number of transactions on the atm is kind of low?  I would have expected more transaction in the first day, but maybe people are still finding out about it.

I should also mention that an article this morning indicated that even the contents of safe deposit boxes were off-limits during the crisis in Greece, and that cash and precious metals in the safe deposit boxes may have been targeted in the event of a general confiscation of deposits. This trashes the plans of many Greeks who had stored money/gold in a safe deposit box thinking that would get them through the crisis. Instead they couldn't even access the contents, and the contents could have been raided anyway. The advantage of bitcoin here is obvious.

I can understand how the price of bitcoin reflexively dropped on news of an agreement, but I think the situation in Greece promotes a long-term shift towards bitcoin by many Greeks, rather than taking them away from bitcoin.

1. Nothing permanent has been fixed - until the Greek government and society get their house in order, they are going to remain a debt-ridden basket case.
2. Greeks have been bluntly confronted with the fact that the banks can and will shut down on them at a point of crisis. They are not going to want to go through that again.
3. The reality of unilateral confiscations of their deposits has been raised, not as a fringe conspiracy theory but as something that was widely discussed. Again, this is going to make Greeks think twice about keeping money in a bank.
4. More and more Greeks are learning about the utility of bitcoin both in a crisis and in normal usage as a result of recent news. So they will continue to adopt it as they have funds to invest or shift into bitcoin.

My prognosis? Modest (at least) increased adoption of bitcoin by Greeks, as well as rightfully nervous citizens of Portugal, Spain, Italy, etc.

Do you think this could improve the development of Bitcoin fundamentally?

http://cointelegraph.com/news/114834/greeces-new-2-way-bitcoin-atm-processed-20-transactions-in-1st-day


"Bitchain, a Spanish bitcoin ATM, NFC and Card solutions provider and cryptocurrency counseling company, announced on July 11 that they launched Greece’s first two-way Bitcoin ATM at The Cube Athens, a Greek coworking space.

The following morning, over €2000 were already exchanged through about 25 transactions, Bitchain representative Adrian Verde said. According to Mashable.com, the bitcoin ATM “has a withdrawal limit of 1,000 euros and for now, the machine does not charge a commission for each transaction.”

Despite its successful launch, the bitcoin Reddit community asked Bitchain what they plan to do with all of the capital-controlled euros that could stack up in the machine. The owner of The Cube responded on Reddit:

“I am the owner of The Cube Athens, the partner space hosting this very interesting experiment. Yes, there are indeed capital controls that prohibit the movement of money outside of the country, so we have agreed with all involved that if the BTM needs to be emptied, (which may not happen since people are buying and selling coin) any cash removed will be deposited in a local Greek bank account, so no money will be moved out of the system.”

Plans proposed to improve the situation in Greece include increasing taxes and cutting benefits, but not confiscating people’s funds entirely. Since all EU countries have a deposit guarantee up to €100,000, the capital control plans won’t affect Bitchain’s bitcoin ATM.

Verde told a gathering of a dozen bitcoin entrepreneurs who want to increase the cryptocurrency’s use in Greece:

"The freedom bitcoin gives you is greater than the freedom euros give you right now. Everyone presumes that a bank won't fail them, but right now has demonstrated that banks can't be trusted because people can't get their own money."

The bitcoin price decreased by 10% after Eurozone leaders agreed once again to offer a third bailout for Greece, financing up to €86 billion over three years. With the help of the Eurozone, Greece secured debt restructuring and a growth package, which could decrease the on-going spike of popularity of bitcoin in the country."