Take out your smartphones and get those palms warmed up for a scanning, because it’s time for CoinDesk’s weekly bitcoin ATM roundup.
It’s always Good Friday in the world of bitcoin ATMs, and we begin our end-of-week coverage with the best news and ‘first bitcoin ATMs’ we’ve heard around the globe this week.
Dubai
Remember that warehouse full of bitcoin ATMs in the UAE, which turned out not to be bitcoin ATMs but convenience store payment kiosks? Well, apparently they are actually bitcoin kiosks, according to local company Umbrellab:
Exactly :)
– Umbrellab (@umblab) 16th April 2014
Shanghai, China
Apparently China banned bitcoin again this week. Luckily that didn’t extend to bitcoin ATMs though, and customers in the IC Coffee Shop in Shanghai can freely feed their yuan into this machine for bitcoin, thanks to exchange BTC China.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Latin America got its first bitcoin ATM this week, thanks to MercadoBitcoin in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Australia
Maybe they call it ‘The Lucky Country’ thanks to its regular supply of ‘first‘ bitcoin ATMs. In any case, Australia got lucky again this week with a Robocoin machine. One user said:
“You have to scan your hand a couple of times, and your ID, but it’s like when you go to a pub these days, and you’ve got to scan your ID”.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Picturesque Halifax, on Canada’s Atlantic coast, received Atlantic Canada’s first bitcoin ATM this week at Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub on Argyle Street.
Speaking of Canada, a company called BitSent promoted its Lamassu machines in Toronto this week at the BitcoinExpo 2014 convention with a competition called #bitselfie. Convention partygoers posed with the machines and posted the results on Twitter, like this one:
Let me take a #selfie! Check out the #Bitsent booth @BitcoinExpoCA. Tweet a #bitselfie with our AVM @BitSent for your chance to win big!
–BitSent (@bitsent) 11th April 2014
#bitselfie with Lovely cutting edge $5k! @BitSent ATM @BitcoinExpoCA#bitcoinexpo#bitsentpic.twitter.com/ALkpz3P4Q9
– Juan Galt (@ElJuanGalt) 14th April 2014
China ATM images courtesy Kapronasia