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Awesome: California gets its first Bitcoin ATM

March 20, 2014

It's probably about time Silicon Valley got its own Bitcoin ATM. Today, California's first will debut at the 500 Startups' Bitcoinferance in Mountain View, Calif., before being permanently installed at a business nearby.

According to a report by Gigaom, Robocoin is on something of a roll of late, despite the variable fortunes of the currency itself, which has lost nearly half its value since November.

Last fall, Robocoin shipped two Bitcoin ATMs to Vancouver; so far this year, the manufacturer has sent four to Texas and 10 others to points overseas.

In order to operate in the U.S., the Bitcoin ATM must comply with the Fed's stringent anti-money laundering laws. Out of an apparent abundance of caution, Robocoin has implemented an account-opening process on its machine that requires not only a phone number and government ID, but also a palmprint, which strikes one as being antithetical to the privacy views of the "anonymous" digital currency's most ardent supporters — Libertarians.

However, this doesn't seem to be hindering use of the machines. Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelley told Gigaom that operators of his machines are pulling in about $10,000 per month, despite what many have discovered to be the necessity of hiring an attendant to help newbies use the machines.

Watch a demo of Bitcoin account setup and transactions in the video below: