Bristol, home of Banksy and the epicenter of Britain’s mid-90s trip-hop scene, landed the country’s first Bitcoin ATM installed outside of London.
Operator SatoshiPoint recently announced the machine’s launch, a RoboCoin kiosk, and the company’s owners say more are on the way.
“Buying online can be confusing, overly complex, and can be an unreliable experience with security issues,” SatoshiPoint Operations Director Hassan Khoshtaghaza told regional news outlet SouthWestBusiness.co.uk. “We are planning to let everyone in the UK to have a local ATM, and we are slowly rolling them out.”
The RoboCoin machine can be found at Superfoods on St Stephens Street.
SouthWest Business reports that the machine only accepts banknotes of 10 and 20 GBP, no cards, and charges a 7% commission.
New RoboCoin kiosk users will need to bring a government-issued ID such as a passport and will need access to their email accounts to get started. However, once a user creates a profile, any RoboCoin ATM in the world can be used with a scan of his or her palm.
Superfoods Director Charlie Furnivall seems pleased with the addition to his store.
“We are a new business that is trying something different, so it made sense for us to have the ATM,” he said. “Anything that takes off in London and America tends to do well, so it’s exciting for us to be at the forefront of something new.”
“We’ll be accepting bitcoins in the store, and we’re not too worried about the change. Once you get your head around it, it does make sense.”
