Yesterday, the question of whether Mike Tyson’s Bitcoin venture was some sort of publicity stunt and would a Tyson-branded bitcoin dispensing machine ever become reality was answered as his Bitcoin ATM went live near the Las Vegas Strip yesterday.
Mike Tyson’s ATM hits back
As we reported last month, Mike Tyson has indeed gotten onboard with Bitcoin in a new deal with Bitcoin Direct to produce Bitcoin ATM’s with his name and likeness. However, bitcoin has had a tough week with its market price dropping over 10% after the Bitcoin XT fork debate resurfaced in greater intensity.
Yet, the Bitcoin ecosystem has responded with new ATMs moving to Greece en masse, and now the new Mike Tyson Lamassu unit opening in Las Vegas. The machine was covered in black and white promotional branding, emblazoned with Mike Tyson’s former fighting image and iconic facial tattoo imagery, as you can see below.
Knockout fees
According to Peter Klamka, CEO of Bitcoin Direct, the Mike Tyson ATM was installed on Tuesday and activated yesterday. The ATM’s exact location is within The LINQ Hotel & Casino’s Promenade, off the strip, on South Las Vegas Boulevard. It is a one-way Lamassu ATM, meaning it only takes money to convert into bitcoin and the fees are liable to score a knockout faster than Tyson is used to. It costs 10% over the current Bitstamp exchange rate price at the time of purchase to use.
The location while “off the strip” is centrally located behind the Mirage, Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace, and south of Wynn Las vegas across the street from Planet Hollywood.
Oddly, The LINQ does not accept bitcoin directly, so the placement could have been better, as there are a couple of bitcoin-friendly casinos in Las Vegas. The D and the Golden Gate Casino do accept bitcoin, but do not have a bitcoin ATM. Typically, a fee more in the 4-5% range is considered normal, but the rights to Tyson’s image and the location near high rollers at multiple top hotels may be inflating user prices, at least initially.