First U.S. bitcoin ATMs to open soon in Seattle, Austin

Yahoo News ^ | Phil Wahba

[djf]

Robocoin said on Tuesday that later this month it will install the first automated teller machines in the United States that let users buy and sell bitcoin, the latest step into the mainstream for the digital currency.

The kiosks, to be installed in Seattle, and Austin, Texas, are similar to ATMs but have scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver's license or a passport to confirm users' identities.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

We will see how this goes.

[Paine in the Neck]

... scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver's license or a passport to confirm users' identities

Kind of defeats one of the main selling points for Bitcoin's advocates - transaction privacy.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Just what the hell is this “bitcoin” stuff?

Seriously, how can you make value out of thin air?

[palmer]

Privacy is not part of bitcoin’s appeal and it privacy from the government is out of the question. The appeal is simply to have currency that won’t depreciate.

[palmer]

Seriously, how can you make value out of thin air?

Same way the centralized currencies do, make it secure and relatively scarce. Bitcoin is designed for fraud prevention without centralized control, plus designed to prevent inflation (same design for both features)

[struggle]

[the OlLine Rebel]

So you’re saying someone has a reserve of REAL metal somewhere?

If this is just play money for on-line stuff, it’s worthless. I don’t get it.

[palmer]

Nobody has a real reserve anywhere, the big centralized currencies leased theirs away a long time ago. The way bitcoin works is that people can get the coins only by making sure that transactions are nonfraudulent. The amount of new coin released from the mining is strictly limited. That way you can be sure that your bitcoins will be worth something in the future subject to wild speculative swings of course. You can use to buy things you need online, or buy hard currency to buy physical things.

[djf]

The biggest problem with Bitcoin is the amount of data and how fast it’s getting generated.

You need a Bitcoin app running 7X24X52 just to keep the DB synchronized.

Then you hear of people saying “There are services for that...” well, then you are back to having some sort of counterparty exposure! That’s the same way as the old way!

[a fool in paradise]

have scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver's license or a passport to confirm users' identities.

That's racist.

[mmichaels1970]

You need a Bitcoin app running 7X24X52 just to keep the DB synchronized.

Not really. If your wallet isn't running for a few days or weeks, it synchs itself up the next time you open it. It may take an extra minute or two depending on how long you've been off-line, but it's not too bad.

[djf]

God Bless your internet connection speed!

I’m on a 1.2 mb/s dsl, 211 days behind in bitcoin DB synch.

Gonna take a day (or three or four or ...)

;-)

[Carthego delenda est]

Perhaps I have a whole roll of tinfoil wrapped around my head, but why is this alleged form of ‘currency’ not being smashed by the Fed? Setting up ATM’s is a bold move forward and nary a peep from the powers that be. Is this the new global currency based on ‘mining’ nothing yet requiring a passport or DL to access? Yes, I am well aware of the whole Federal Reserve power trip. Does it not seem odd that ‘they’ are ‘allowing’ this to progress?

[mmichaels1970]

If this is just play money for on-line stuff, it’s worthless. I don’t get it.

I think of the coins as more of a product than of a currency. A widget isn't backed by metal either. But it may be a product that is in demand, giving it real value.

The transactional security, potential for at least partial anonymity, the ability to bypass intermediaries and their fees for a transaction, and the (as yet) non-government control may make it a product that is in demand.

Here's how my relatively inexperienced mind looks at it:

A lot of computer power is needed to help keep up with and manage the ongoing ledger of transactions and help utilize the encryption necessary to create such a product. As a reward, the computers that do the work (miners) and the people that run them get to split up shares of the products as they are created. They can hoard them, exchange them online for products, or sell them off for real dollars in exchanges as they wish.

[biff]

My thoughts exactly. Try to use gold or silver bullion for legal tender and you will see the walls of the graybar hotel real quickly.

How can this play money be used to “buy stuff” with?

[mmichaels1970]

211 days behind in bitcoin DB synch.

Yes, that's a lot of days to be behind.

I noticed the initial setup/sync took about that long for me as well. I think it took something like 10-12 hours (litecoin wallet) maybe more. But after that, I normally open up the wallet every week or two so it only takes a couple of minutes. I don't have a bitcoin wallet. I heard it was faster than litecoin's wallet but I'm probably wrong.

I can see that not running your wallet app for almost 7 months could result in a large delay to sync back up. Of course, if I don't run Windows for 7 months and I open it back up, I end up with about 30 hours of Windows updates to deal with as well.

[palmer]

It’s easier for the Feds to track this than to track cash. Even easier than credit card transactions since they don’t have to strong arm or inflitrate any corporations.

[djf]

Well, Bitcoins don’t, afaik, claim to be anything like “legal tender” or “dollars”.

So I’m not sure the FED has any jurisdiction. I mean I could go on Amazon and sell single hairs off the top of my head and the FED wouldn’t have power to stop it.

But that, sadly, is the failure of our system. Even if the FED were to admit it didn’t have the power to stop it, if Bitcoin (or anything else) became a threat to the dollar (FRN), then the FED would somehow INVENT the power to stop it!
And the courts and police would suck up and agree.

[Errant]

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