Bitcoin kiosks to make debut in Canada in fall

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This article was published 09/09/2013 (4441 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — The first time Ryan Johnson bought Bitcoins — an emerging digital currency that isn’t controlled by any authority such as a central bank — was with a pocket full of cash from a stranger he had met online.

“It was almost like a sketchy drug deal,” recalls the 31-year-old Vancouver resident.

Since that first transaction in January, Johnson has been exchanging his Canadian cash for digital currency at Bitcoiniacs, a physical store in Vancouver that acts like a Bitcoin broker.

“It’s just much more comfortable to go sit down in an office at a brick-and-mortar building with a professional that knows a lot about Bitcoins, do a professional transaction and get a receipt for it,” says Johnson.

Soon, Johnson and other Canadian Bitcoin enthusiasts will be able to exchange Canadian cash for the digital currency through a kiosk that’s similar to an ATM.

Bitcoiniacs says it has ordered five Bitcoin kiosks from a Las Vegas-based company called RoboCoin and intends to roll them out across Canada in the coming months, with the first machine expected to land in Vancouver in early October.

Four more kiosks will arrive in December and although their locations are not yet certain, Bitcoiniacs says it’s eyeing cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa.

“Basically, it just make it easier for people to buy and sell Bitcoins and hopefully will drive the adoption of Bitcoin, and make it more accessible for people,” says Mitchell Demeter, the 27-year-old owner of Bitcoiniacs.

Bitcoins are mathematically generated through a series of commands executed by computers in a peer-to-peer network. The process is called Bitcoin “mining” and is set up so that the total number of Bitcoins that can ever be generated is limited to about 21 million.

While some have doubted Bitcoin’s validity and others have raised concerns that the unregulated currency is being used for nefarious means, a U.S. judge ruled last month that Bitcoin, which has been around since 2009, is a real currency.

Acquiring Bitcoins now is often done through an exchange, an arduous process requiring users to jump through several hoops, including linking their bank account to the exchange and sending in paperwork to verify their identity.

The alternative to using an exchange is to find someone who wants to sell their Bitcoins in an online forum, meet up with them in person, hand them some cash and scan each others’ smartphones to transfer the Bitcoins to your digital wallet — which is managed through an app.

The RoboCoin kiosks are expected to make the process of buying and selling Bitcoins much easier, says Jordan Kelley, the company’s chief executive. “Our goal is to make Bitcoin truly grandma-friendly,” says Kelley.

Using a kiosk means you don’t have to wait to verify your account on an exchange or hand cash to a stranger, says Kelley. It also makes Bitcoins more accessible to people by adding an element of legitimacy and increases liquidity in the market.

 

— The Canadian Press