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October 4, 2018
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More Bitcoin ATMs Spotted in Utah
Bitcoin ATMs have been around for a while, but they are nowhere near the level of regular ATMs. That could very well change soon, as the state of Utah ramps up the number of ATMs available to Bitcoin users.
The U.S. is currently leading the way when it comes to Bitcoin ATMs — 2259 of the world’s 3824 Bitcoin ATMs are in the United States. Canada is the country with the next-largest number of Bitcoin ATMs (669), followed by Austria (241), and the U.K. (204).
Utah only has 12 Bitcoin ATMs in the state, and a company by the name of CoinCloud owns 11 of them. CoinCloud’s CEO Christ McAlary launched his first Bitcoin ATM in Utah back in 2015, and it has been a success ever since. McAlary cites the many Millennials and startup companies in Salt Lake City as one of the driving factors.
But Utah is by no means CoinCloud’s only site of operations. The Las Vegas-based company is active in 22 states and has big plans to expand. Although the United States is the stronghold for Bitcoin ATMs, a recent report revealed that Greece is also growing its number of Bitcoin ATMs.
Bitcoin ATMs Rising In London
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, an entrepreneur by the name of Landry Ntahe also has big plans to expand his Bitcoin ATM empire. Like CoinCloud, Ntahe set up his first Bitcoin ATM in 2015. It required him to learn how to program the machine, and then convince someone to have it on their business premises.
Ntahe made friends with the owner of a convenience store in Enfield, London. Coincidentally, Enfield is also the place the first ATM opened in London back in 1967. Today Ntahe’s company BCB ATM has 60 Bitcoin ATMs spread across London, Manchester, Brighton, Liverpool, and other major U.K. cities. The plan is to open 3,000 Bitcoin ATMs across Europe by the year 2023.
Part of the success BCB ATM has experienced is due to the versatility of Ntahe’s machines. His ATMs are the only ones currently allowing users to buy, sell and trade tokens, as well as allowing shop owners to accept Bitcoin payments.
Chinese Tech Magazine Accepts Bitcoin Payments
The government of China has been anything but gentle when it comes to ICOs, cryptocurrency, and blockchain projects in general. Crypto-mining is strictly prohibited, as is crowdfunding with ICOs, and trading on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Although the Chinese government is not hostile to the idea of blockchain technology, it has expressed interest in keeping the popular phenomenon on a tight leash by effectively imposing a state monopoly on blockchain projects.
Now, however, the oldest media outlet in China has decided to accept Bitcoin payments as a social experiment to demonstrate how practical cryptocurrency is. Subscribers to the Beijing Sci-Tech Report are now able to pay for their subscription by sending Bitcoin tokens to a wallet address provided to them by the publication.
An annual subscription to their ‘Tech Life’ magazine comes out to 0.01 BTC or $65. Owning and investing in cryptocurrency is not explicitly illegal in China, and moves like the one made by Beijing Sci-Tech Report will contribute to the continued popularity of Bitcoin.
