Topic: So my friends and I launched Hawaii's first Bitcoin ATM but... (Read 4451 times)

I understand your frustration, but try to stay calm and work on spreading awareness without being pushy. People are generally very protective of their ignorance and are just waiting for an opportunity to label you with something bad. But people are also naturally curious. So if you calmly but persistently emit a certain message or idea, people will soon want to know more about it and will come to you by themselves. People want to get value by using effort rather than accept the same thing by being force-fed. Also, always focus on "what clear and immediate benefit they get out of this" and not how cool something is or how it can change the world for the better.

I know Hawaiians value their privacy so there's a good talking point to begin with.

Those lava flows must be pissing people off then, eh?  

The best reason for Hawaii residents to buy Bitcoins now is for internet gambling.  Hawaii residents spend very large sums to fly to Las Vegas and pull the handles of slot machines, since there is no legalized gambling in Hawaii.  Buying Bitcoins locally can get them playing quickly on Seals with Clubs or other sites.

On the other hand, visitors who fly to Hawaii often wish to buy high quality "organic herbs" grown in the islands for local use.  Bitcoins might have a roll in that market, if a fast and anonymous distribution method is developed.  Avoiding an open exchange of goods for money has some advantages in that enterprise.  And it is a lucrative market.

Give the people what they want and can't get any other way.  Don't compete with Walmart.  Don't try to sell ice cubes to Eskimos.

yes ,what you said was right, so many people are  so

This is pretty cool. I look forward to trying a Bitcoin ATM at some point whenever I'm visiting the US.

Great job!  People here often speak about how Hawaii should attract more tech entrepreneurs which in turn would generate more brain trust and less brain drain.  Let's be honest, island visionaries like us are a rare breed here.
 
I personally applaud any effort such as yours where you have decided to step outside of your comfort zone, forgo the sun and surf time, and instead take the time to research bitcoin while you develop, invest and launch this project.  Let's continue all of our efforts to ensure that hope for a better Hawaii exists to those who live here and that folks like us remain a resource for those who wish to live here and flex their entrepreneurial muscles like you just did.

Keep up the good work.!! I somehow dont see it as much of a success in Hawaii anytime soon though..!! but keep it going.!! we need more of this.!

It's in the middle of downtown at the busiest intersection in the area in full view of anyone who walks by. Short of placing it in a touristy area, you'd be hard pressed to find a busier spot.

And as I said, this is about starting the dialogue not generating profit. That location has already netted us 3 solid investors because that's the kind of person that frequents Hawaiian Stamp and Coin and that's the kind of person we need on our side as this thing picks up steam in our region.

Ahahahaha... Good one. Yes us sovereign kingdomers of Hawaii threw out the dollar in favor of Colored Money many decades ago. We also accept seashells.

I have to say, props to the crypto community for reclaiming the word "colored" from old racists. (I'm referencing the advent of "colored coins" and not the poster if you are wondering.).. These sentences probably have no meaning if you live outside the U.S.

you should target tourist looking to exchange their money into wtv colored money you use Hawaii 

just a thought.

I don't think your choice for your BTC ATM is a very good one. You want to get as much foot traffic to your BTC ATM as possible so anyone who wishes to buy bitcoin from your ATM can do so once they pass it (like an impulse purchase, or if not an impulse purchase it would be something they come back to). If you have your BTC ATM is a low foot traffic location then you are only doing the owner of the shop the BTC ATM is located in, as it will generate additional foot traffic to that store from people wanting to buy bitcoin from your ATM

Well for starters Hawaii already has quite a few places that accept bitcoin though services like Gyft (thats how I do my shopping) and we are already in talks with businesses around the BTM's location about utilizing our integration services that will allow them to accept bitcoin seamlessly. So we aren't simply pushing BTMs with the hopes they will change the market but rather we are pushing from both sides at the same time.

In reality the machine we have now is just a conversation piece, to get people talking about the technology. That's also part of the reason why we placed it in a shop that sells collectible coins, stamps, and currency. The people that visit that store regularly are exactly the kind of people who stand a good chance of understanding BTC because they understand the history of currency (the guy who runs the store actually wrote the book on Hawaiian Currency).

So I'm not sure what you mean by your assertion about the location being "not very accepted" because that business has been there in the center of the business district since 1979 and is run by a family that has operated such businesses in Hawaii for generations. They are about as accepted as a business gets.

BTM's aren't even my companies core competency, it's really systems management which we will demonstrate with the launch of our proprietary machines later this year (stay tuned). However, in a low adoption state such as Hawaii we felt the need to get the dialogue going well before we were done with our own product launch and the current machine has done so with gusto. Everyday I wake up to emails, phone calls, and text messages from people asking about the machine down on Bishop street or the technology in general. So for now, mission accomplished but we've still got a long way to go if we want to see Bitcoin really hit the mainstream market. That's something we should ALL be working towards too.

 

ATM? which company? which exchange rate?

That's a Bitcoin vending machine, not an ATM. You can buy Bitcoins with currency, but can't get currency out.

In Indonesia recently a few bitcoin enthusiasts managed to convert one of the islands  there to be Bitcoin Island, where everything can be paid with bitcoins. It bodes extremely well with tourism there. Hope to see Hawaii being fully Bitcoin friendly in the future

I would  love to use that Hawaii ATM one day

Why does there need to be places that accept bitcoin in Hawaii in order for the bitcoin ATM to be successful in Hawaii? This is not the case for most other locations that have bitcoin ATMs. As it stands now there are very few places that accept bitcoin in a retail environment, probably less then there are bitcoin ATMs.

And its blind faith statements like this why Bitcoin is going no where.

Did you read the Ops starting post

They are not a technology friendly state, they do not like change, thus 1 little ATM is not the light at the end of the tunnel for them, its just an obstacle, one they can and will easily avoid.

No offense to OP yo have your priorities in skew my friend, in order for your ATM to work well you will need places that accept bitcoins, what you should have done first is get businesses in the area to adopt and accept the coin, even if you have to do the footwork it would have been worth it for you in the end. An ATM will interest few people, however being that your area is a HUGE vacation area, if you could get people to accept bitcoins in gift shops, small restaurants or other places like that and put your ATM in the middle of the stores accepting BTC how much better do you think it will do. If I were you I would go out now, waste no time and spend the winter months trying to get  businesses on board, get Tshirts and have some of the "Bitcoin Accepted Here" signs and stickers ready to hand out, even if you have to help them set the system up and get them a wallet and help them to adopt BTC I would do that.

In addition you placed your ATM in a place that is already not very accepted, so you have to turst what he has in his shop to be the trust factor in your business now, what he sells and what he does is a great reflection on your ATM and what it stands for. because what he has is tangible and the consumers against change will connect his products and services directly with your ATM.

What you have done would be like a miner who wants to mine bitcoin so he prepays his electric bill for 5000 dollars and buys one 1 Thash dragon to begin his mining business. the electric is useless if you dont have the machines to support the cost, the fewer machines you have the less BTC you make the longer it takes to collect BTC the higher the difficulty the higher the difficulty the less you collect.

Do you see what I mean?

You're doing well! Keep up the good work!