As we reported before Christmas, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would not intervene in a local digital currency exchange’s business.
And now, news broke this week that Singapore’s Bitcoin Exchange has ordered one of Lamassu’s ATMs. Delivery is slated for March. The location and date of operation are yet to be determined.
This will be a big step for Singapore’s Bitcoin scene — a core group of early adopters right now — whose users at the moment must wire money to an overseas exchange and wait at least a day before they can begin trading cryptocurrencies.
The company says its focus is simply to make Bitcoin available to Singaporeans.
Said company co-founder Zann Kwan: “The good thing is that the Singapore government has left Bitcoin alone. It’s treated like silver or gold, and if you want to [deal in it], it’s at your own risk. The ATM will create a lot more interest in Bitcoin.”
Lamassu sold its 100th Bitcoin ATM just before the new year. The machines first went on sell in August and command a price of about $5,000.
“We will be shipping to 25 different countries, ranging from Canada to Kyrgyzstan,” Lamassu CEO Zach Harvey said of the company’s plans for early 2014. “We’ve translated our interface into more than a dozen languages, including Russian, Chinese and Friulian.”