Australian blockchain payment company BitPOS has launched its own bitcoin ATM in Sydney powered by its own software platform and the BitPOS ID system.
The official launch took place on Wednesday.
BitPOS founding partner Jason Williams told iTWire that anyone who had a bitcoin wallet could now buy the cryptocurrency at the ATM using Australian dollars.
He said the take-up across the country was not yet at a stage that could be described as big.
{loadposition sam08}Williams said that was one of the reasons why he, and his co-founder Alex Taylor, decided to launch the ATM so people could become familiar with the use of the cryptocurrency.
“We have written all the software, and designed our systems with the goal of keeping immaculate audit records of every ATM interaction,” Williams said.
Taylor and Williams have been involved in the business since 2012 and Williams said he was not in any way discouraged by the stance that some countries, China for example, have adopted against cryptocurrencies.
Last month, Beijing was reported to have taken steps to shutter bitcoin exchanges in the country.
However, other countries, like India and Japan, have hinted that they may develop their own cryptocurrencies.
Williams said that no matter what kind of talk was coming from the political sphere, the only thing that businesses like BitPOS could do was to follow the laws, like the current anti-money laundering legislation.
While not many vendors had taken up use of such currencies, he was of the opinion that its use would spread.
There are no smartphone apps for using the ATM and Williams said this was a plus. There was a keypad and one could use a QR code to interact with the machine.
Customers can ascertain the status of each ATM before they visit it, to see whether it is online, or offline.