Topic: Have you, or would you ever use a Bitcoin ATM? - page 13. (Read 2041 times)

From what I have read, at least half of the people who responded don't have access to an ATM. I am in the USA, and in a major city area (New York City area), and they are literally everywhere. I haven't ever used one because I thought it was pretty pointless, and seemed sleazy. I mean, if you know anything about bitcoin, why would you buy from an ATM, since it surely can't be less expensive. However I also read that one user mentioned that they only take a 1% or low fee. For this reason, it might be worth it.

I know I am speaking out of ignorance, but I thought the way it works is, you pay them for the bitcoin, and they give you a paper wallet. I figured you would only really use it if you knew nothing about bitcoin, and wanted to buy some, sort of like the gold bullion vending machines. Or buy it as a gift for someone else. I thought it was a good idea only to buy a last minute gift for someone, which might last longer than a small gadget/technology. I realize that I must sound spoiled being that I have access to this, and most people don't. I think it might be worth trying one out. However I don't understand the purpose of using one to buy bitcoin, if you need to provide a wallet, since at that point you must already know enough about BTC to have a wallet already.

One thing I did not consider is that you would be able to sell BTC for cash at these ATMs. That is fairly interesting, since any other way usually requires jumping through a lot of hoops. That makes me wonder how easy it would be. If it is as easy as it seems, and without providing personal information, then it would seem like a great idea, as long as they don't take too much as fees.

For the person that mentioned they saw an ATM being installed and the owner getting arrested a day later, that make me feel humbled that this freedom would be possible... and that this freedom can be taken away.

I appreciate everyone who posted a reply, and I did not mean to sound spoiled or privileged, I truthfully did not know that Bitcoin ATMs are a somewhat rare thing, or luxury. I am grateful for the honest feedback and insight this has given me.

From the little knowledge I have or from what I have learned so far, I think before spending your Bitcoin you need a digital signature to show that you own the public address that contain the Bitcoin. So if this is the case, then I think BTC ATM will not be advisable for use because it might require some basic personal wallet details which can make it unsafe.

It is always great to have first-hand experience in using a Bitcoin ATM but that's it.  As said, I would just use it once for experience's sake but not on a regular basis.  It is a hassle looking for the machine and I feel that it is a waste of time to travel just to withdraw from it when there is a more convenient and cheaper way of Bitcoin transfer/cash out online.

I think that the biggest competitors to Bitcoin ATMs are local crypto exchanges where you can buy and sell crypto in your local currency. I'm not sure if it's the same in all countries, but in the European union KYC is not needed if you are selling or buying less than 2.000€ worth of crypto. And most of those local exchanges charges much less fee than 10%.

I guess I don't want to use bitcoin ATM right now because I haven't figured out how to use it yet.
But maybe if there are many bitcoin ATMs in my city and they are easy to find anywhere, I want to try it because it will not raise question marks by people around the ATM.
I don't know about the safety factor but I think it's safe enough and of course, the company that installed the ATM has security in protecting the machine and its users.
But for now, maybe there aren't many ATMs installed in cities, so we haven't been able to try it yet.

Used them until Know Your Customer has been enforced.  Now I have to drive a long way to find the ATM I need.

I would use an ATM long as it provides the privacy I am looking for.  As in, long as I do not have to scan my ID to purchase or cash out.  Otherwise it makes no sense and I would rather use an exchange instead.  Imagine giving up your ID and cashing out 5 to 15 percent less due to exaggerated fees.  It makes more sense to create an exchange account instead, verify your identity and cash out at spot price.

Also.  High fees are typically for selling Bitcoin.  If you want to purchase Bitcoin, they typically offer spot prices or at most a 1% fee.  For this reason, purchasing Bitcoin through ATM's is worth it.

It is VERY hard to get 100% anonymity nowadays.  Only if you very carefully do a Peer to Peer trade in a spot with no cameras, but then you wonder why would you meet a random stranger in a place with no cameras to complete a transaction.  I still believe ATM's provide more anonymity than a Centralized Exchange does.

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

Found some similar threads in the past.

• My first time using a Bitcoin ATM
• Finally used a bitcoin ATM successfully!
• What do you think about Bitcoin ATMs?
• Bitcoin/ Crypto ATM's

Personally, I have used one, but the fees is expensive as per discussions on the threads above. I'm not sure if this is viable as a gift though, you might want to look at Opendime: https://opendime.com/

it is our privilege to use ATH machine as they are designed for all Bitcoin users to have an advantage  but that was back in the days as we now have more option in using our bitcoins , there are even stores directly accepting crypto payments and even Online casino and grocery and shop offers as well.

and there are many option in exchanging Crypto to Fiat  as p2p is open now in many online wallets and meet ups.

yeah those are the disadvantage of using ATM because of the higher fees when in local wallet conversion we can only lose penny .

Two facts that repel users from using Bitcoin ATM: 1) exchange fees are usually higher compared to making similar exchange on  exchanges, with users help or by using telegram bots (for example) 2) they dont offer 100% anonymity right now (have cameras close to where ATM is installed or ask to receive SMS for deal verification).

I would have used Bitcoin ATM, if there were one close to me. I definitely not gonna go there on purpose, as buying Bitcoin ATM from home is still more comfortable.

I have personally never used a Bitcoin ATM but, I have read that the fees in these ATMs are very high when compared to an exchange. There have been instances when they have also displayed the wrong USD value of Bitcoin. Considering those two issues it would be wise to either avoid them or be careful while using them. I am not discouraging anyone here but why pay a high fee when you can buy on an exchange for less fee.

For now I haven't used a Bitcoin ATM, the idea of ATMs that accept cryptos is a good and should be supported worldwide. I am not even aware that there is one close to my home. If there was one close to my home, I probably wouldn't be using it to be honest. I rarely use cash these days, paying with cards is just so much easier and faster. Carrying around large amounts of money is a thing of the past. Also I am trying to build up my crypto portfolio, so withdrawing coins from my wallet and converting them to Fiat money is not really my interest right now. It could be a big alternative when travelling on vacation to have the option to get local cash from our crypto wallets instead of paying high fees to our banks.  

I have to admit, I haven't used a Bitcoin ATM, however, I know people who have and do it regularly. I don't see anything wrong with it. If anything, I would say it makes crypto perceivable more real to the average consumer. The ease of accessibility is a big factor in mass adoption. Are ATMs safe? Well, I'd say more or less the way FIAT ATM's are safe, you can still get robbed in front of it, or in the system XD

It all depends what your other options are. One of the biggest advantage of BTC ATM is that they often don't ask for any sort of documents, but then again that depends on the country you are living (in my country I can do it completely anonymously). Regarding fees, they are generally high so if anonymity is not your priority or if you can't buy via BTC AM anonymously, there are much better ways to buy and sell Bitcoin.


No, you don't have to give your private key and anyone asking you for that is scammer. The way it works is simple: you choose on ATM the amount of BTC you wanna buy ( for example $100 worth of BTC), then the machine scans qr code of your wallet so it has the address where BTC will go, and in the end you insert the bills in the machine and that's about it. BTC will be sent to your address and you will get a receipt.

About my personal experience, I've been using BTC ATM exclusively for several years, but when fees became too high for me (iirc 2 years ago) I decided to find other ways. I still use it occasionally, but only as a sort of  last resort.

Still not yet have experience using Bitcoin ATM because my country not adopt bitcoin as legal currency payment and not allowed using Bitcoin ATM, I think better not using Bitcoin ATM when cashing out our money because prefer hidden with my self as cryptocurrency investor. I want to keep hidden to public about my job as investor and trader on cryptocurrency because getting risk from asking some people to teach them how to get profit in cryptocurrency trading. Not easy when getting profit from crypto many people claimed as cryptocurrency as the best investment how to earn much profit. I hope keep not allowed bitcoin as legal currency transaction and haven't with Bitcoin ATM in my country.

Frankly, I have never used a bitcoin ATM because it doesn't exist in my country. One company tried to setup one ATM and the owner of the company got arrested by the police on the same week of installation. So I don't think I will be able to see anymore ATM in my country in near future. But I am not very eager to use bitcoin ATM unless it is completely anonymous. ATM has cameras and the company may ask you to do a quick KYC before you can actually use it. If that is the case, I would never use a bitcoin ATM personally and would not recommend anyone to do so.

But yes, if it is anonymous where no cameras will be installed and no KYC will be needed, I may try it once out of curiosity. That's it!

Till now not have experienced using any Bitcoin ATM as don't have any around me but yes surely wants to try it out once to get used to the working.Although aware about how it actually works but want to test it in reality but the fees varies for the different ATM's which i know but giving out once is worth trying.So whenever get the chance or visit the place having such services then will give it a shot.

I tried once, selling a small amount. I simply wanted to test how they worked in person. In my case the one I used did not require KYC, you simply send the amount in Bitcoin required, when the payment is confirmet a QR code appears on your mobile, you scan it on the machine and it gives you the money. I don't remember exactly the fees but it was something like 5-10%. It didn't seem that expensive for what I had heard and a non-kyc system of selling fast.

There are several Bitcoin ATMs where I live but all of them have pretty high fees. If I remember correctly, fees were close to 10% and I'm not paying that much. Because of that I prefer P2P trading when I need cash - it's cheaper and you get to talk to a crypto person about crypto. A win-win situation

There aren't any Bitcoin ATMs in the town where I live.
Even if there were Bitcoin ATMs,I can't find any reason to use one.There's no point for me to use an BTC ATM.
Bitcoin ATMs are a dead business model,if you ask me.We have computers and smartphones,what's the point of ATMs?Using a BTC wallet on your computer or smartphone is way more convenient and probably cheaper.
ATMs are good for fiat money,not for crypto.I've been using ATMs for fiat money and I won't stop doing so.

For as long as premium fees are not that terribly high and that personal details are not asked, it is actually a convenient way to buy, especially if you have a Bitcoin ATM near you or one that is accessible. Especially if what you have is only cash and you don't have much payment option to buy Bitcoin like paypal, cards, bank accounts, etc buying through an ATM is a good alternative. But I haven't used one. With my circumstances I think I won't be looking for a Bitcoin ATM to buy Bitcoin.

As to private keys, I don't think you are normally provided one. But there are ATMs I think where you could provide your own address, one that is not custodial.