India gets its first Bitcoin ATM?
Cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin set up it's first ATM in Bangalore recently.
It is installed at Kemp Fort Mall in Old Airport Road.
According to the sources online, the kiosk let's one deal with Bitcoins and Ethereum and one needs to be a KYC verified customer of Unocoin.
One can withdraw anywhere between 1000 INR to 10000 INR per day in denominations of 500.
They soon rebranded it to Kiosk when they realized that people were confusing it with regular ATM and were trying to withdraw money.
Earlier RBI had asked banks to terminate relations with cryptocurrency exchanges. Users weren't able to withdraw cash through their regular means and had to resort to p2p methods.
They have decided to install these in Delhi and Mumbai as well.
Edit: So, this news was all over mass media and internet a few days ago but the actual news is slightly different. Mass media hyped it up as Bitcoin ATM whereas it was just a cash withdrawal and deposit machine for Unocoin users.
The co-founder of Unocoin was arrested by Cyber Crime Branch as they allegedly did not take appropriate permission before installing the kiosk.
You should check out this article by @firepower to know more about the situation.
Image credits: Unocoin twitter page
We have the same issues here in Canada with banks not wanting to deal with crypto. They say that they are trying to protect us. I am not sure if they are perhaps just trying to protect themselves. We have a few BTC ATMs around here as well. The transaction fees are quite high, however. It may costs a lot to invest but the long-term rewards will be worth it someday.