News

The Bitcoin ATM makes a Congressional appearance

April 11, 2014

It's up for debate whether U.S. legislators will buy into the concept behind Bitcoin — the digital currency that the government is still trying to wrap its head (and regulations) around. But for a couple of hours on Tuesday, they had the opportunity to buy into Bitcoin, literally.

Robocoin rolled its Bitcoin ATM up Capitol Hill to give Congress an up-close and personal look at the controversial crypto-currency. Bitcoin proponent Jared Polis, D-Colo., demonstrated how the purchasing process worked, ID-ing himself with a palm scan, feeding $10 into the machine and 10 minutes later receiving a receipt with his unique Bitcoin code.

It was a smart promotional move by Robocoin. Bitcoin has been plagued lately by a raft of bad press: the spectacular collapse of the Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange; money-laundering on the infamous Silk Road; and the Chinese government's kibosh on the currency.

According to a report by Time, Polis arranged the Tuesday event in order to demonstrate to his colleagues that controversial currency could be benign — beneficial even.

"When I saw that serious politicians were talking about banning something, a concept that has great benefits for humanity," said Polis, a tech entrepreneur before starting his career in Congress, "I decided to step in and show that there are those of us here that have a countervailing viewpoint: that alternative currencies enhance freedom, enhance economic opportunity, particularly for the world's most disadvantaged, and can reduce transaction costs across our entire economy."