ATMS BECOME NEXT BATTLEGROUND FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY
Crypto kingpins are duking it out for control over the exploding market of cryptocurrency ATMs.
Walk into a Prague subway station and chances are you’ll see an ATM. But you don’t need a debit card or even a bank account to use this machine. This is a cryptocurrency ATM. It’s the physical manifestation of a set of virtual currencies that have leapt out of the shadows of the underground to the mainstream of global finance. And it’s over these ATMs that the latest race in the cryptosphere is unfolding. From Detroit to Delhi, and Santiago to Split, cryptocurrency ATMs are popping up around the world, catering to an interest that has been tempered by a crash in Bitcoin valuations this year. The first such ATM opened in 2013 at Waves coffee shop in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now, just five years later, more than 3,000 cryptocurrency ATMs populate train stations, factories, delis, hookah bars, tattoo shops, pubs and even pet clinics. These ATMs allow users to withdraw cash or cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum. And crypto kingpins are now duking it out for control of that exploding market.
