Even as some competitors expand their bitcoin ATM operations, Bitcoin Depot, once the largest operator of bitcoin ATMs in North America, announced it is closing up shop. Bitcoin Depot announced Monday that it was filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas and would begin an orderly wind-down of its business in the United States. It expects to begin similar proceedings in Canada and elsewhere around the world “in due course.” Bitcoin ATMs, or BTMs, allow users to buy bitcoin directly for cash, bypassing the need for cryptocurrency exchanges, and the credit cards and bank accounts needed to use them. Saying its business model has become “unsustainable,” Bitcoin…
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Los Angeles Slated for Bitcoin ATMs
Bitcoin Bancorp sees growth potential in the Golden State
In February, 2014, I trekked down from my office in Midtown to a little boutique on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The goal was to visit New York City’s first bitcoin ATM. I purchased about 1/10th of a bitcoin – a couple hundred dollars back then, if I recall correctly. I had bought my first bitcoin in 2012 and was one of the first ever to mention the words “cryptocurrency,” “bitcoin” and “ripple” in the mainstream press when I wrote about it all for Esquire (the George Clooney cover, Dec 2013). Still in its infancy, bitcoin was only just beginning to move beyond money hobbyists and doomsday preppers. There in…
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Blue Ridge Bank’s Bitcoin ATM announcement halts trading
The bank’s stock took a Bitcoin bounce after claiming it was ‘the first time in U.S. history a commercial bank is providing access to Bitcoin at its branch locations.’
BRBS promptly surged more than 20% in the space of 12 minutes, forcing the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to halt trading on its stock for 5 minutes. Of course it promptly dropped right back down in another 10 minutes. Still, the stock ended the trading day at $21.24, up from $19.90 before the bitcoin bounce.
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Bitcoin ATM operators to be sued for patent infringement
OTC markets tech firm Bot bought a 2014 patent describing a Bitcoin ATM and now wants to be paid royalties on the use of this technology
First Bitcoin Capital is in discussion with “a major law firm” to act against the infringements to its Bitcoin ATM patent and collect royalty payments by those operating such machines. “All Bitcoin ATM manufacturing companies could be forced to use the patented technology to manufacture and sell their Bitcoin ATMs as well as companies and individuals that own and operate Bitcoin ATM networks locally and nationwide," the company claims.
