More than 300 Crypto ATMs established in malls around Australia 

Cryptocurrency ATMs are machines where crypto assets can be brought by depositing cash. Assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other stablecoins can be obtained. A recent report by Coin ATM Radar suggests that cryptocurrency shopping malls are popping up in Australia and the number has grown to 383 machines nationwide which is more than all of Asia. This comes after an aggressive expansion this year 

Cryptocurrency ATMs 

Cash is fed to the machines by people in exchange for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or other assets in exchange for the rates displayed on the screen after which it gets collected in the buyer’s digital wallet. The sole purpose of buying is hoping that the value will increase or be used to pay for items where the sellers accept cryptocurrency.  

These ATMs have usually higher fees than online exchanges and hence most people buy and sell online. But the majority of the ATMs lie in North America where the count goes to 32,000 in both the United States and Canada combined.

Olliv, the local entity for the US-based CoinFlip owns more than 300 ATMs in Australia which small operators such as BitRocket ad Cryptolink own one or two machines. Ben Weiss, Founder, and Cheif Executive of CoinFlip said that he is betting big in Australia and that the current network needs to be doubled to meet the demand in Australia.

He further added that the installation of cryptocurrency ATMs at mainstream locations and the offering of 24-hour services has attracted a lot of people. He thinks that Crypto can be made intimidating as soon as you take it out of the cloud and make it more accessible to people by introducing ATMs at the shopping center. He said that it’s important to make as many ATMs available as possible at different avenues to make crypto buying accessible.

Before starting its rally back in January of this year the entire crypto market went through a phase known as the “crypto winter”. With events such as terraUSD collapse and the Bahamas-based FTX collapse, cryptocurrencies were dumped around the world last year.

Australians and their Belief in Crypto

While the “Crypto Winter” was at its peak the Commonwealth Bank reported that amidst the volatility and fear, Australians continued to invest in Digital Assets throughout 2022. This trend has caught some tension and raised alarms for financial experts as consumers are open to the risk of losing money. The Commonwealth Bank recently reported that Australians were undeterred by the volatility and continued to invest in cryptocurrencies throughout 2022, a trend that has alarmed some financial experts because of the risk consumers could lose their money.

Spokseperon from Australian Securities and Investment Commission warned people that investors must be ready to lose what they’ve invested in the Crypto market because of its highly volatile and complex nature. The Federal government has already started to consider some of the cryptocurrencies as financial products by regulating them. Founder Weiss added that people are using cryptocurrencies because they do not trust banks and are worried about Inflation.

To use Olliv ATM a customer has to go through the KYC procedure which requires them to upload personal identification documents and go through several pages of going through potential scams. Scams such as Romance scams and purporting scams can be avoided. The machines are established in highly convenient places such as shopping centers, news agencies, convenience stores, and petrol stations across all states and territories. 40 of the Ollive ATMs also allow withdrawals.

Ian Booth who’s the secretary of the Newsagents Association said the host business typically received between $250 and $400 a month in rent for hosting the ATMs. 

Booth further added that cash payments became a cheat code for customers who didn’t want the transactions to appear o their bank statements. Australian Tax Officer said that with the usage of Cryptocurrency ATMs track recording has become tougher.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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