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As peso falters, bitcoin ATM operators see opportunity in Argentina

October 9, 2018

If you were following cryptocurrency in early 2013, you might remember that bitcoin ATMs were a proposed answer to the Cyprus financial crisis ... that never quite panned out.

Fast-forward to 2018 and a gathering financial crisis in Argentina, where the peso has plummeted to an alarming low as the nation finds itself unable to pay back borrowed funds.

Again, bitcoin is being touted as a safe haven for citizens looking for a hedge against inflation. And again, bitcoin ATMs are being touted as the means for citizens to convert their floundering fiat currency to bitcoin.

According to a Reuters report, Argentina's first bitcoin ATM popped up last month in Buenos Aires, deployed by U.S.-based Athena Bitcoin.

Another U.S.-based deployer, Odyssey Group plans to install 150 of bitcoin ATMs by early 2019 and says the machines will be able to process traditional bank transactions, as well.

Odyssey's processor says it hopes to have an installed base of 1,600 bitcoin-enabled ATMs in place in Argentina within a year, and that it is also looking at possible placement in other South American countries.