World's first Bitcoin ATM goes live in Vancouver

Vivian Luk, The Canadian Press

Published Tuesday, October 29, 2013 7:27PM EDT

Last Updated Tuesday, October 29, 2013 7:30PM EDT

VANCOUVER -- Bernd Petak recalls a time when, curious about how exchanging cash for the digital currency Bitcoin worked, he stood at Union Square in New York City and wandered among the sellers to try and get the most bang out of his buck.

"You meet at a certain time outside and there are people standing around with their hand up, and they'll sell you Bitcoin, and you can shop with various people and you can see who has the best price," he said.

Such transactions involve buyer and seller scanning each others' smartphones to transfer the Bitcoins -- a virtual currency that isn't controlled by a central bank -- to the buyer's so-called digital wallet.

Read more (with video): http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/world-s-first-bitcoin-atm-goes-live-in-vancouver-1.1519309#ixzz2jCrhldHj

Is it possible to buy bit ions in Thailand? I had heard that thailNd made it illegal to get here but this could be wrong.

Yes, you can purchase BitCoins in Thailand for baht. Is it legal? Probably not. But then, prostitution is not legal either.

this is quite exciting, I wonder how long it takes for us government to pressurize its Northern neighbors into shutting this down..

Surely just a question of energy sales.

I would have thought one of the Eastern/Central European states would have been the first with this type of thing

^ the opening of a bitcoin atm is not going to have any influence on international energy deals

aside from criminals and law enforcement agencies, nobody else cares that much about bitcoin

oops... i nearly forgot about the "investors" who trade / gamble on this bizarre asset

ha ha not what i meant i was being all tin foil hat about atm getting closed down, was speculating on one of the numerous wAys the us can pressure canada. of course all good if canada won't be intimidated but i am sure that is unlikely.

Bitcoins seems like a scam waiting to happen.

If they are a scam, who is the scammer? Who will go to jail, except, maybe, in Thailand, for trading or gambling or investing in BitCoins. BitCoins came out about 4 years ago at $10 each. Now they bring $205. They are easily traded with no requirement for a large investment and/or margin.They are a new age solution to an age old problem - trading currencies with minimum interference by governments, banks, wall street, money changers, brokers etc.

If they are a scam, who is the scammer? Who will go to jail, except, maybe, in Thailand, for trading or gambling or investing in BitCoins. BitCoins came out about 4 years ago at $10 each. Now they bring $205. They are easily traded with no requirement for a large investment and/or margin.They are a new age solution to an age old problem - trading currencies with minimum interference by governments, banks, wall street, money changers, brokers etc.

Who controls Bitcoin? Who maintains the algorithms for their creation? How do you know that in x years time the controllers of Bitcoin won't change the rules? or flood the market? That the system is unhackable? A lot of the arguments against traditional currencies, ie. lack of transparency, controlled by unaccountable banking systems, open to government interference seem to be a whole lot worse for Bitcoin currency.

By all means go ahead if you think it's worth the risk, but as a rule of thumb if an offer seems too good to be true, then it probably is. That Bitcoins have risen in value in such a short space of time, for something which fundamentally has zero value, is one of the classic signs of a ponzi scheme.

Who controls Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is an open source protol. It the same as saying "who controls the internet", "who controls torrents", everyone connected has a certain amount of control.

Who maintains the algorithms for their creation?

The equations that dictate the generation of new bitcoins are already written into the source code, if someone were to change the rules in their version of the software it would not be compatible with other people's version of Bitcoin and thus unless everyone (or at least majority) decided to change their code also then the changes would be meaningless.

How do you know that in x years time the controllers of Bitcoin won't change the rules?

See answers to #1 + #2

or flood the market?

See answers to #1 + #2

That the system is unhackable?

If SHA256 was "hacked" then bitcoin would not be the only thing to be hacked, the hacker would also be able to access just about any security system on the planet (ie your bank account too)