On Thursday afternoon, I bought almost one tenth of a Bitcoin. The entire process was relatively straightforward, required zero technical knowledge, and lasted approximately seven minutes.
The bar sits in the heart of downtown Austin, just a couple blocks from the convention center where South by Southwest Interactive Conference is held every year. The festival has long been known as a place to showcase groundbreaking technologies in front of a tech-savvy audience. First, I entered my phone number.
It then texted me a security code. Once I punched in the code, the machine scanned my ID, compared my picture to a photo it took of my face, and then took a scan of my handprint. It then told me to come back in five minutes as it processed my application for an account with Robocoin.
While I was waiting, I noticed this guy would be watching over all the Bitcoin transactions:. A few minutes later, I got another text saying I was approved. I went back to the machine, inserted some cash, held up a QR code with the address of my Bitcoin wallet. Naturally, being inside a bar, I immediately attempted to use my newly acquired virtual currency to buy a beer.
And Canada has had its own unit for months. Last October, Robocoin rolled out a similar unit in downtown Vancouver coffee shop. Though every Bitcoin transaction is recorded in a public ledger, called the block chain, that anyone in the world can view, the identity of the people on either side of transactions can remain completely anonymous. As a result, Bitcoin has became the de rigueur payment system for drug-filled online black markets like the Silk Roadwhich was shut down after its alleged mastermind was arrested in San Francisco last year.
Originally the exclusive province of libertarian-minded technophiles, Bitcoin has quickly grown toward wider adoption—although buying and selling the currency is often viewed as an intimidating challenge for the uninitiated. However, recent moves have started to seriously counteract that perception. In January, personal finance app Mint announced it would partner with the Bitcoin wallet service Coinbase to allow users to track their Bitcoin holdings just local bitcoin atm austin tx they would their other investments.
In addition, an increasing number of businesses local bitcoin atm austin tx started accepting Bitcoin. Most notably, online retailer Overstock. As with many standard ATMs, particularly the ones located in non-bank settings, the owners earn revenue from a small fee applied to each transaction. One nagging problem for the service, however, are the almost invasive security procedures needed for a new account.
Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelly acknowledged that Bitcoin enthusiasts, a group known for putting a high value on privacy, may initially balk at having to scan their IDs and give handprints in order to use the machines. But he insisted Robocoin is going to great lengths to encrypt and secure user data and that these steps are essential in proving to the local bitcoin atm austin tx that everything is on the up-and-up.
Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous, and we understand that. If you want to live in a country with some kind of [financial] governance, you have to sacrifice a bit anonymity in order to get Bitcoin. I think Bitcoin is way more important than anonymity. The process, he said, is about?
Robocoin takes the conversion rate from the going rate on exchanges like Bitstamp and Vault of Satoshi. There are a wealth of wholly legal places that accept Bitcoin online, even if adoption in the real world is coming along much more slowly. In Austin, there is only a local bitcoin atm austin tx handful of locations that will take the virtual currency—a bookstore, a couple food trucks, and a gun shop.
But, as Bitcoin-based companies like Robocoin push Bitcoin out of cyberspace and into the real world, brick-and-mortar adoption is bound to grow.
Aaron Sankin is a former Senior Staff Writer at the Daily Dot who covered local bitcoin atm austin tx intersection of politics, local bitcoin atm austin tx, golden retrievers who know how to dunk, organizations adapting to our increasingly connected world, online privacy, the role of dank memes in popular culture, Twitter bots, and that same golden retriever who as it turns out is also pretty good at lacrosse.
He lives in Seattle, Washington and became a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting in Latest Chrome update may have broken millions of web-based games Phillip Tracy — May 7. While I was waiting, I noticed this guy would be watching over all the Bitcoin transactions: Aaron Sankin Aaron Sankin is a former Senior Staff Writer at the Daily Dot who covered the intersection of politics, technology, golden retrievers who know how to dunk, organizations adapting to our increasingly connected world, online privacy, the role of dank memes in popular culture, Twitter bots, and that same golden retriever who as it turns out is local bitcoin atm austin tx pretty good at lacrosse.
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