Bitcoin reveals first ATM, as Norwegian man finds out forgotten investment in the company is now worth £429,000
Electronic currency Bitcoin has revealed its first ATM has gone live in Vancouver, Canada this week.
Built by Robocoin, the ATM trades hard cash for digital Bitcoins and vice versa.
Special security measures, such as palm scanning, have been built in to the ATM to ensure user's are not making multiple deposits to avoid the machines being used for money laundering. A deposit limit of $3,000 Canadian dollars per day has also been imposed.
Deposits are traded on Canada's VirtEx exchange, moving into the user's online Bitcoin wallet. Once the transaction is complete user's receive a QR code on screen in addition to a receipt.
Robocoin has commented that the ATM's will be "the easiest, quickest, most convent way to both buy and sell Bitcoin ever…using only the best bank grade hardware, Robocoin is capable of instantly handling transactions in the thousands of dollars.
"Not only does this provide incredible convenience for Bitcoin owners, but this also has the potential to change the entire remittance industry."
The developments in Bitcoin comes as a Norwegian man who purchased £16 worth of Bitcoins back in 2009 found out his 5,000 Bitcoins were now worth £429,000, after forgetting about the investment for four years.
Kristoffer Koch remembered the small investment he'd made in the virtual currency back in April leading him to spend a full day trying to remember his login details.
Of the unexpected windfall Koch said: "Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that they would have soared like this."
Bitcoins are not controlled by any central bank or organisation meaning their value can fluctuate widely.