ATM to Buy Bitcoin and Dash already Available in Venezuela
The device allows buying Bitcoin and Dash with dollars in cash. The Venezuelan exchange company Twenty Venezuela is responsible for managing the cryptocurrency ATM.
Since October 4th, Venezuela has had its first Bitcoin ATM (BATM) to buy the cryptocurrency par excellence, as well as other crypto assets, in the South American country. The device, which is located at the El Recreo branch of the Traki retail chain in Caracas, accepts several cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for its products.
The ATM requires making deposits in USD cash so that it can sell the cryptocurrencies. The device is enabled to sell Bitcoin and Dash in a first stage, as reported on October 4th by the Venezuelan exchange team Twenty Venezuela, a company dedicated to the cryptocurrency market that brought the BATM to the country.
Spokespersons from the company said that they had recently received the license from the National Supervisory Authority of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (Sunacrip), the government institution responsible for regulating the cryptocurrency sector in the South American country. They added that they had just been waiting until the procedure was complete to launch the device to the public.
How the ATM Works
In order to buy BTC or DASH, users must hold a wallet of one of those cryptocurrencies. On arriving at the ATM, they must choose the cryptocurrency that they will buy, show the QR code of their cryptocurrency address to a reader of the device and enter the amount of US dollars that they want to exchange for Bitcoin or Dash.
Once the operation is completed, the ATM shows another QR code, with which the buyer can verify the transaction. The funds are instantly received at the address chosen by the user.
Regarding purchase amounts, there are no limits beyond the very liquidity of the wallet integrated into the ATM, as explained by the company’s team. At the time of testing the device on the morning of October 4th, only Dash was available for purchase. A representative of Veinte Venezuela said that this matter was already being handled to allow the purchase of bitcoins to work normally.
New Option for Using Cryptocurrencies
Michael Gómez, a member of Traki’s team, said that the equipment helps settle some issues that required improvements for payments with cryptocurrencies in the store. He referred to some customers that did not have enough balance in their cryptocurrency wallets to pay. Now they can transfer funds to their wallets on the site and thus complete their payments with the exact amount required.
The department store chain receives payments with cryptocurrencies through the Pundi X point-of-sale (POS) system, recently implemented, apart from the CryptoBuyer payment gateway. Gómez concludes that the arrival of the Veinte Venezuela ATM provides a new option to boost the cryptocurrency market in Venezuela.
It should be noted that hyperinflation has led Venezuelans to seek ways to protect the value of their income, Bitcoin being one of the privileged options. Actually, the country maintains the second place with the highest BTC trading volume on the peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platform LocalBitcoins, with more than 2,000 bitcoins in recent months.
By Willmen Blanco