Cryptocurrencies are growing on a daily basis, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and others grabbing headlines of all the major publications on a daily basis. But, we are still far from seeing these digital assets coming to the mainstream consumer, and the reason is obvious — they are not easy to use and even buy.
There are many companies working towards this goal, but overall – we are still talking about a nascent market only a small percentage of people are vested in.
Crypto ATMs could help adoption
And unsurprisingly, we are seeing these machines popping up all around the globe. Ukraine will get a bunch of crypto ATMs this year and so will Argentina, while in Switzerland – Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has added Bitcoin ATM functionality to more than 1,000 of its ticket machines.
All these ATMs allow users to easily buy and sell their bitcoins and a few other cryptocurrencies without “going online.” The process still requires registration and verification, but after the initial setup — every next purchase or sale is almost as seamless as using any other ATM.
While this sounds cool and there are no doubts that crypto ATMs are getting increasingly popular, there are some caveats, as well. Which we’ll discuss in the next section…
Problems with crypto ATMs
All the problems today’s crypto ATMs have come from the fact that the ATM operator is not running its own exchange, hence using these machines often comes with a higher than usual fee. Paying 4-8 percent per transaction is ridiculous, but that’s the way with most bitcoin ATMs.
Also, in many cases, there’s one company developing the software, and the other making the actual ATM. It is not the ideal situation, and any updates could therefore take longer than usual to implement.
This bottleneck is not stopping some users, but there are complaints, no doubts about it.
Enter Cointed
This European company is looking to improve the way we use crypto ATMs. It is not only making software for these machines, but also machines themselves — while running its own cryptocurrency exchange, as well. With this setup, they are able to deliver better experience that does NOT include high fees.
Cointed touts its product as next generation ATM that could really drive home mainstream consumer adoption.
Whereas using many ATMs comes with a fee of around 8 percent to buy bitcoins and 4 percent to sell, Cointed’s prices are about half that (2.5-4.5 percent to buy and 1-3 percent to sell). Furthermore, their machines support other (than Bitcoin) cryptocurrencies — including Litecoin, Dash and Ethereum — while having a much higher transaction limits – up to €15K for registered users.
And you know what? These machines are already live, though mainly in Austria. Expansion to other parts of Europe is definitely on Cointed’s agenda, and in the meantime – it is also working to offer a debit card that would allow users to spend their virtual currency in regular stores, and get money from “regular” ATMs.
Sound like a plan, but…
From what we can tell, Cointed is well poised to take the crypto market by the storm. But, with these sort of plans, it’s all about execution. Finding the right talent, and making all the deals takes time. And a lot of luck.
We do hope the company will be able to deliver on its bold goals and bring cryptocurrencies closer to the general public. And have no doubts about it — we will be watching every step they make, and get back to you as soon as we (again) hear something cool. Stay tuned in the meantime, k?