This afternoon, Jon Matonis tweeted out a great piece on Coindesk called “7 Things Merchants Should Consider Before Hosting a Bitcoin ATM.”
If you are thinking of ponying up the cash for a Lamassu or a Robocoin machine, read that article. And if you are a cafe or store considering letting some local Bitcoin startup install their machine in your shop, read that article.
For the rest of us, there is still a big takeaway from the fact that the piece was even written: Bitcoin machines are becoming big business worldwide. Example A: Spain.
And with this proliferation of Bitcoin ATM businesses, there is going to be a growing demand for Bitcoin legal experts.
Enter merkletree.io. We have referenced the site in more than a few articles here, and we use it as a primary resource for legal questions at the country level.
A quick background
Merkletree.iolaunched only at the beginning of this year, and its team consists of just a couple of guys in the US. But those two, in just a few months, have put together the go-to resource for anyone asking, “What is Iceland’s stance on cryptocurrencies?”
And those are the questions you Bitcoin ATM entrepreneurs need to be asking, as Pete Rizzo notes in his piece. Merkletree.io isn’t going to cover all your country’s know-your-customer laws or anything like that, but the site’s country guides will at least help you ask the right questions.
There is also a small but growing directory of attorneys who specialize in cryptocurrency law.
The map on the homepage shows the evolving regulatory landscape of digital currencies around the world, and it kind of resembles the board of an MMO strategy game (“Crypto vs. fiat! Entrepreneurs and libertarians vs. banks and national authorities! In a bid to take over the globe!”).
All joking aside, bookmark that site. As regulatory frameworks emerge and waters get murkier, you’ll be glad you did.