Bitcoin ATMs spread across the US: “Putting” in 1 dong and withdrawing VND 923 million – is it really ‘easy to eat’?

According to experts, the emergence and rapid growth of Bitcoin ATMs is an inevitable trend. However, cryptocurrencies are not currently a substitute and difficult to replace for real money. At least in Vietnam, Bitcoin ATMs will likely be disgraced due to a well-defined legal corridor.

Cash withdrawal directly on Bitcoin ATMs in New Jersey (USA).

Bitcoin ATM is inevitable

After 13 years, Bitcoin has gone from a cryptocurrency with no value to the most valuable virtual currency today, with a quantum of just over 2 million units. That pace of growth has led to the advent of Bitcoin ATMs.

Recently, Bitcoin Deport conducted additional installation and brought the total number of Bitcoin ATMs around the world to a record 17,000.

Chart of the number of crypto ATMs increasing year by year.

In essence, the so-called Bitcoin ATM is the generic name of a virtual money ATM, used to buy or sell virtual money in exchange for local currency where the ATM is located. This means, Bitcoin ATM is an intermediary device that supports Bitcoin transactions, users can use it to transact virtual money, or convert it to local cash with installation .

Bitcoin ATM makes it easier to buy Bitcoin and some other virtual currencies with cash due to the simple procedure with fast transaction speed within 1 minute. Moreover, transactions via Bitcoin ATMs provide better security, no identity verification required, while traditional banks will require the user’s identity (KYC) and back up all real transactions. show.

Currently, there are two types of Bitcoin ATMs: one-way (unidirectional) and two-way (bidirectional) . One-way type can only be used to buy and sell Bitcoin for cash – as simple as a Bitcoin transaction tool. Meanwhile, 2-way type can help you convert both from cash to virtual currency and vice versa.

Type 2 is more convenient and represents the right function of a true ATM – helping you to withdraw cash from your account / wallet. However, the number of Bitcoin Type 2 ATMs in the world is not much, only about 30% of the total number of Bitcoin ATMs and mainly in the United States.

The majority of Bitcoin ATMs in the world are currently in the United States.

TS. Nguyen Tri Hieu – Finance and banking expert said that the Bitcoin coin at the beginning of 2021 has exceeded $ 40,000 (equivalent to 923 million VND), which is something that few people can imagine.

TS. Nguyen Tri Hieu commented that the fact that Bitcoin ATMs appeared and increased rapidly with a dizzying number in a short time is completely unsurprising, especially when the value of BTC is increasing and in fact. already there are Bitcoin ATMs that actually allow cash withdrawals.

Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu (Banking and Finance Specialist) commented on Bitcoin ATMs.

With the same opinion, Mr. Tran Hoang Viet (Founder of financial and investment management platform GoMoney) said that as of March 2021, the number of Bitcoin ATMs has increased by more than 50%, to 17,000 compared to 3 / 2020. Currently, the number of Bitcoin ATMs in the US accounts for more than 90% of all Bitcoin ATMs globally, followed by Canada and some European countries. This is an impressive number and shows that virtual currency is increasingly widely accepted not only by the giants like Paypal or Tesla, but also by the majority of the people wishing to use Bitcoin.

Is Bitcoin ATM open in Vietnam?

The rapid increase in Bitcoin ATMs in number has led to certain predictions for the good growth of this virtual currency in the near future. Even many people believe that these Bitcoin ATMs will soon be available in Vietnam because there are many miners and investors trading Bitcoin in Vietnam who have the need to access Bitcoin ATMs.

However, Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu said that Bitcoin investors need to be awake because there is nothing for us to believe that BTC will keep rising. Bitcoin is not like the fiat currencies like the Dollar or the Euro – legal currencies always have an economy behind them to patronize. The value of Bitcoin is born based on supply – demand, without any financial institution or economy behind.

“The birth of Bitcoin ATM is inevitable when this currency grows strongly, but there is no guarantee that it will grow forever. The time from the beginning of 2021 has clearly demonstrated that. In Vietnam, Bitcoin Just a form of investment, intellectual product, not recognized and allowed to trade “- Dr. Nguyen Tri Hieu said.

Currently, it is difficult to accurately predict the impact of Bitcoin ATMs on traditional banks because the purposes and services of the two parties are completely different. While traditional banking makes cash transactions easier, Bitcoin ATMs are aimed at virtual currency investors and some people want to withdraw cash, transfer money abroad or want to transact anonymously.

Cryptocurrencies still cannot completely replace cash. Because when virtual currency is widely used, governments may tighten up to avoid the risk of some people wanting to conduct money laundering or uncontrolled transactions through virtual currencies. Statistics in the US show that, in 2017, only about 2% of transactions were put on High-risk Exchanges (usually for money laundering and illegal acts), by 2020, this number has increased to 8%.

Tran Hoang Viet (Founder of Gomoney) is best suited for longtime BTC players.

“Bitcoin ATMs may take decades to replace traditional ATMs. According to 2020 statistics, the number of traditional ATMs in the world is now 3.5 million. That means even maintaining the double speed. As miraculous as it is now, it will also take 8 years before the number of new Bitcoin ATMs is equal to traditional ATMs.In the case of central banks of countries accepting the circulation of virtual money, the existence of traditional banks will be affected. However, this is very unlikely due to the decentralization of this virtual currency “- Mr. Tran Hoang Viet shared.

Along with the above statement, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Viet (Founder of Lectron) said, due to the limited nature of quantitative and increasing value. Bitcoin is more like a form of storage asset than it has real economic value.

“Personally, I think Bitcoin is currently a product to store assets, like the function of using gold, the influence of Bitcoin or Bitcoin ATM does not have much effect on traditional banking. It was originally created because it wanted to increase the convenience of users to easily buy bitcoins more than other functions of use, and now is the same. ” – Mr. Nguyen Hoang Viet said more.

Lectron Founder Nguyen Hoang Viet thinks that Bitcoin is like a storage asset.

Experts also mentioned the limitations that users should be aware of. First, legal risks can happen at any time. Because some people use Bitcoin ATMs for malicious purposes, those who have done transactions at the ATM together may be investigated at the same time.

Next, Bitcoin ATMs have higher fees than many traditional banking online transactions. The average Bitcoin ATM fee will be 8.4% when buying Bitcoin from a machine and 5.4% when converting Bitcoin into cash.

As such, Bitcoin ATMs will be best suited for longtime Bitcoin players and those who do not have a bank account (about 31% of the world’s population). However, the number of people who do not have a bank account is mainly located in developing countries, with the majority of Bitcoin ATMs concentrated in the United States and Canada.

As for Vietnam, at least in the near future there will be no Bitcoin ATMs. That also means warning users about the bit of cake drawing Bitcoin is not “delicious” as the fans are praising.