News hardware Bitcoin: This country (re)installs special ATMs
In the same way as for the traditional currency like the euro or the dollar, there are automatic distributors allowing to withdraw Bitcoins. A certain country has (re)updated the idea by installing several of these cryptocurrency distributors in the public space.
Bitcoin ATMs installed in Japan
The Land of the Rising Sun is experiencing a return of Bitcoin ATMs in several cities. These cryptocurrency distributors should notably be soon available within Tokyo as well as Osaka.
The special distributors will allow Japanese inhabitants to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) but not only… users of its BTM (bitcoin teller machine) will also be able to carry out transactions with other cryptocurrencies:
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Bitcoin cash (BCH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
The company Gaia BTM, at the initiative of the project, is a cryptocurrency exchange platform based in Japan. With the goal of mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, Gaia BTM intends to deploy 50 ATMs within a year. Even more ambitiously, the company estimates that this figure could be increased to 130 BTMs in the country within the next three years.
To access the interface of these BTMs, the Japanese will not be able to use any card. Indeed, to withdraw or exchange their funds in crypto, users will have to register on Gaia and have a special card.
To combat the scourge of money laundering within the cryptocurrency industry, Bitcoin ATMs will allow locals to withdraw a maximum of 100,000 Japanese yen, or €733 per transaction. In total, the daily cap will be €2,200, or 300,000 yen.
The inhabitants should not be confused since they have already faced these machines before…
The country is not at its first attempt with its Bitcoin distributors
In 2014, the country was one of the first to install this type of technology. However, the use of its distributors ceased following a major hack.
In January 2018, a popular cryptocurrency exchange in Japan was hacked with an estimated loot of 500 million euros. Users of the infamous Coincheck platform had seen their cryptocurrency savings soar. This feeling of insecurity plagued the Japanese cryptocurrency industry in the following years. Thus, since 2018, there are no longer any active Bitcoin ATMs.
It is therefore a return after 4 years of absence. These new “made in Japan” machines installed in Tokyo and Osaka aim to wipe the slate clean of the past of cryptocurrencies within the country. By developing this type of project modeled on the traditional banking model, the company wishes to become part of the daily life of the Japanese. From then on, the inhabitants will be able to use an alternative means to PCs and smartphones to exchange their cryptocurrencies.
In this logic of adoption on a larger scale, these Bitcoin distributors are an ideal solution for the society which surely wishes to reach another segment of the population. Moreover, Japan is not the only country to develop this kind of project. In Europe, several countries have introduced Bitcoin ATMs in the public space with varying proportions. While Spain currently has 255 distributors, France has only three for the whole country.