The cryptocurrency industry has in the past year reached a level of public interest that until recently was unimaginable. Previously associated with black market dealings, security flaws and speculation, Bitcoin, Ethereum and the many other altcoins have this year drawn unprecedented positive interest from banks, governments and businesses.

The underlying Blockchain technology (which allows totally new types of economic transactions) has drawn praise from such reputable institutions as Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and the US Senate. And as a payment method, businesses are lining up to participate in the crypto industry.

This is a level of interest that even the biggest trends in tech (like Big Data, sensors, or quantum computing) haven't achieved. However, this is overshadowed by a big problem with cryptocurrencies: they are still not easy to use.

Long term investors and early adopters might not see any issue when transacting in crypto, but newcomers often complain about the difficulty of using exchanges, mining fees and managing security. The fact is, using your bank card to withdraw fiat is easier, quicker and more secure.

This situation creates a bottleneck: many new and old crypto users are clamouring for an easier way to use the currencies. Whoever can make this easier and cheaper stands to gain big market share in this rapidly expanding industry.

Going back to the cash example, nothing is more convenient than ATMs for accessing funds quickly. A European company, Cointed, is banking on the potential for a new generation of crypto ATMs to really drive home mainstream consumer adoption.

Cointed does not just provide a regular crypto ATM experience, they are an organisation that is making the entire ATM system more efficient and usable.

The issue with ATMs

There are several drawbacks with cryptocurrency ATMs compared to conventional ATMs. First and foremost, there is the obvious issue of fees; any transaction method that charges the user a few percent in transaction fees is obviously going to be a deterrent.

Furthermore, the nature of the ATM industry makes upkeep and support more difficult. Providers and manufacturers exist for ATMs, which means that there is a company that manages the software and exchange on the machine, as well as another company who manufactures the machine itself. This can lead to support issues and less efficient ATMs.

Cointed has a new business model that is quite different than existing market offerings, as reported in the latest Bitcoin News. This is primarily because they are both the manufacturer and the provider of their ATMs.

Lower fees, more options

The ATM was mainly developed in Austria, where the company has many machines deployed. Cointed’s main selling point is their much lower fees. Whereas other offerings charge on average around 8% to buy Bitcoin and 4% to sell, Cointed charges around half this on average (2.5 - 4.5% and 1 - 3% respectively). Furthermore, their ATMs have more options: they support Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash and Ethereum while also having a much higher transaction limits - up to €15k for registered users.

These lower fees are due to Cointed’s overall strategy which involves not only making ATMs more accessible, but also putting work into improving the technology they run on and the platform used.

First of all, the servers that power Cointed’s ecosystem are more advanced and use higher quality cooling which enables much more efficient operations. They also have their own API system (PayCo) that allows customers and users to interact with the machines more easily. Cointed is using this to target Point of Sale users in retail, for example.

This is all underpinned by their own exchange which facilitates the whole ecosystem, enabling cost-effective trading across currencies. There is also a Cointed debit card that makes using cryptocurrencies even more similar to standard financial interactions. Cointed even sells high-quality mining equipment to those who want to mine - you can even opt to have the mining equipment installed at the Cointed facilities and run from there!

And like all crypto ecosystems (but not all crypto ATM operators), Cointed is optimized for optional use of their own token which facilitates interaction between all parties. The Cointed token is not a required but a beneficial aspect when using the Cointed system, allowing token holders to save money.

Bridging the gap

As you can see, Cointed believes that the problem of getting crypto into more people’s hands in a cheap and efficient way requires new thinking. They are using a complete ecosystem of solutions instead of standalone devices and software.

The Cointed token used in their ecosystem is on sale; this CTD token also allows holders to benefit from lower fees and to trade easier. Furthermore, Cointed’s debit card is available with a minimum investment of 20 ETH before 19th of November and during this period there will be a bonus 15% CTD offered for each investment. Early investors will have the opportunity of getting in on the ground floor of Cointed’s global expansion.