World's first Bitcoin ATM Opens

Three young Canadian entrepreneurs have opened the world's first automated teller able to exchange bitcoins for currency. The world's first Bitcoin ATM has opened in Vancouver, Canada - "An ATM that converts bitcoins to Canadian dollars and vice versa".

The machine, which resides at Waves Coffee House in Vancouver's downtown area, uses a palm scanner to access each Bitcoin owner's account. Users who don't already own Bitcoin can still exchange cash for the currency, and create an account on the spot. The ATM is the world's first, said co-owner Mitchell Demeter, a local entrepreneur who started trading in bitcoins several years ago. 

Customers use a private key - like a bank PIN - to access their online account of bitcoins on the ATM. They withdraw cash equivalents for their bitcoins, or deposit cash bills, which are then converted into bitcoins and deposited into a virtual account. The prevailing conversion rate is about one bitcoin for C$200 (HK$1,484). Users can then spend their bitcoins with a smartphone, in a similar way to how credit cards are used, or by transferring the money to purchase goods and services online. "It's the currency of the internet, as real as any other," said Demeter.

In Vancouver, bitcoins are accepted by some 15 local businesses, from coffee shops to a landscaping business. The ATM machine, operated by Vancouver-based Bitcoiniacs and Nevada-based Robocoin.

"We're freaking out [due to excitement]," says Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelley. "What this machine has done is it's removed the barriers to entry for the masses."

Kelley says he hopes to have Bitcoin ATMs across Canada by the end of the year, and into the United States in 2014. Interested users can expect the first Bitcoin ATM to crop up in Boston, he says, followed by California and New York.