UPDATED 19:02 EDT / FEBRUARY 24 2014

Seattle and Austin get the crown of first US cities to pioneer Bitcoin ATMs

robocoin-kioskLas Vegas-based company, Robocoin, last-week announced the installation of the first automated teller machines (ATMs) in Seattle and Austin later this month.

According to Reuters, the U.S. welcomed its first Bitcoin ATMs last Thursday. Robocoin kiosks will let consumers buy and sell Bitcoin for cash. Following in the footsteps of Canada, which introduced the machines last year, the new ATMs will come equipped with scanners that recognize government-issued identity, such as passports and drivers’ licenses.

“Robocoin will be EVERYWHERE! We’ve just arrived in Texas and have already shipped to Seattle, Washington and Alberta, Canada,” said Robocoin founder Jordan Kelley.

“Austin’s Robocoin is going to a really cool location downtown at the HandleBar. We have a bunch more shipping to amazing locations in Canada. We’re also still moving forward with Hong Kong, but we underestimated how long the international hardware certification process would take.”

The machine, available for sale to individual operators as banks and private enterprises, allowing users to buy or sell bitcoins in minutes. The process should be much faster than creating an account on an exchange or through mobile applications and computers, with which it could take a few days to verify the account. The ATM gives Robocoin Operators full customer visibility, trackability and reporting tools to support global compliance. The arrival of Bitcoin ATM is seen as a step to bring digital to the real world currency in the USA.

“Now we’re building a global infrastructure of passionate and dedicated Robocoin operators who are all fully aligned with the mission of making bitcoin safe and accessible to the masses. Robocoin is completely removing bitcoin’s barriers to entry and helping bring bitcoin into the real world,” he said.

Users of the digital currency will not only be able to swap their bitcoins for cash at the machines, but they will also have the possibility to deposit cash or purchase more of the crytocurrency.

Robocoin pioneered the first bitcoin ATM in Vancouver. The Canadian bitcoin exchange, Bitcoiniacs, has also announced they want to set up the infrastructure for the Robocoin-made cash machines in Singapore and London in the near future.

“We’re currently looking for a location. We’ve got a gentleman on the ground in Singapore that we’ve been working with. We’re likely going to do a similar set-up to what we have here in Vancouver,” said Mitchell Demeter, founder of Bitcoiniacs. “Singapore became very attractive to us as soon as [the authorities] made it clear where they stood on bitcoin. It’s an attractive location for business overall, so it was the perfect location.”


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