The ATM Industry Association has decided that it can no longer ignore the rising number of bitcoin ATMs that have been springing up around the world. In a report posted online on the group explains its position on new bitcoin ATMs and argues that "BitCoin" is not a threat to cash, writes Billy Bambrough
In a report that confusingly refers to bitcoin, Bitcoin and BitCoin, the ATM Industry Association has announced that it wants to get behind the virtual currency and bring it kicking and screaming into the physical world.
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Just like jokes made on the internet and told again in real life, bitcoin doesn’t translate well to the physical world with bitcoin ATMs generally used as a way to get people interested and educated in bitcoin more so than a way for people to buy them regularly.
While a useful PR stunt, bitcoin ATMs are effectively useless as a way of regularly using bitcoin and won’t see many people returning to use them once the novelty value has worn off.
ATMIA’s position on bitcoin:
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By GlobalDataIn the paper titled "Position Paper on Bitcoin and Bitcoin ATMs," ATMIA accepts that bitcoin "creates a different model of payment" and "challenges assumptions of established payment methods and governance of currency."
ATMIA is seemingly worried that bitcoin’s appeal to criminal elements is damaging to its image, conveniently ignoring that cash is by far the most widely used payment method for criminals.
Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA, said in a statement: "We reach out our hand of friendship to Bitcoin ATM operators and encourage them to come within the fold of our industry and its governance framework and best practices."
The question that many people are asking is how is regulation on something like a bitcoin ATM, which works nothing like a traditional ATM, possible?
The bitcoin ATM operators generally agree that a collaborative relationship with the traditional ATM industry is a good thing but why should they be governed by the same industry standards as companies that are providing a completely different service?
Bitcoin ATMs hold no customer deposits; the service is an automated change, exactly the same as you can do on your PC. Bitcoin ATM operators do not (currently) cater to cardholders in the banking sense, so one of the big ATM industry issues of skimming and pin-pad encryption is irrelevant. However, this is not to say bitcoin ATMs have no security concerns of their own, they are just vastly different and require a different set of rules to govern and ensure best practice.
Bitcoin ATMs do not transmit sensitive financial information in the traditional sense. They record publicly transactional information but retain no important details about the user.
Best practices of the traditional ATM industry should certainly be incorporated where there is an overlap in the nature of the businesses, but enforcing one set of regulations on a different industry will do nothing other than slow the adoption of bitcoin, tying it up in unnecessary bureaucracy.
The very term bitcoin ATM is wrong, meant only to help people properly understand what the machine does. In a technical sense it is much more like a bitcoin vending machine, connecting a buyer to seller, quickly and securely.
I wonder if the vending machine industry accusation is willing to also extend the hand of friendship to the bitcoin ATM industry?
