Temple Bar to be home to Ireland’s first Bitcoin ATM

Bitvendo is to install Ireland’s first bitcoin ATMs in the coming days, to let users buy and sell the digital currency.

The ATM will be installed in Hippety’s Café in Dublin’s Tempe Bar.

Bitvendo said the ATM will turn bitcoin into cash “in about 12 seconds” and will be able to handle €10,000 in transactions each day.

Members of the public will also be able to buy bitcoin using the machine.

“The machine will present you with the current BitStamp market rate before buying….If you would like to buy €50 worth then just insert €50 and you will get that exact amount minus our small commission (3-5 per cent),” Bitvendo said.

Bitcoin was launched in 2008 and is traded within a global network of computers. It is not backed by a single company or government and has no assets behind it, but its release is tightly controlled, mimicking a central banking system’s control over the minting of money.

Bitcoin ATMs also opened in the US for the first time last month after Robocoin said it was to install machines in Seattle, and Austin, Texas.The company launched its first bitcoin ATM in North America in Vancouver last year.

The currency’s worth has fluctuated widely. Last September, a bitcoin was worth around $150. By late December the value was near the $1,000 mark.

In recent days, the virtual currency’s worth has declined again after the collapse of the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange last week.

Mt Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan last Friday, saying it may have lost some 850,000 bitcoins due to hacking into its faulty computer system.

The collapse was another setback for the currency, which is mainly accepted by online retailers.

Additional reporting: Reuters