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Why does the author think they should be able to get USD out of an ATM in a non-US country? Does this happen in any country? I can't think of any country I've

Why does the author think they should be able to get USD out of an ATM in a non-US country? Does this happen in any country? I can't think of any country I've been to other than the US which let me withdrawal USD from an ATM. When telling friends about some of the benefits of Crypto, I often use Argentina as an example, but this one comment regarding ATM -> USD I think is hurting the credibility of this author.

Scoundreller 4y ago
Some Canadian banks have ATMs on Canadian soil in airports and border towns that will dispense USD. I’d guess “dollarized” non-US countries definitely do too.
- Mountain_Skies 4y ago
  Yes, in Ecuador that happens, which is nice if you're a tourist from the US. When I was there, the local bank didn't even add a fee for using their ATM, though my US bank added their own charge. Still better than in the US where both banks would add a fee.
- trashtester 4y ago
  I don't think those ATM's carry the dollars for use within Canada, though. Rather, they're there so that travellers can bring some dollars to countries with a non-functioning financial system (for instance with currency controls).
santimt 4y ago
In Uruguay, neighbor of Argentina, you can extract up to 500 USD daily from ATMs.
cesarb 4y ago
Here in Brazil, I've seen a couple of ATMs from a major bank which allow you to directly get USD out of them. I searched just now and found a list of these ATMs: https://www.bb.com.br/pbb/pagina-inicial/voce/produtos-e-servicos/contas/todos-os-servicos/taa-cambio#/ https://www.bb.com.br/pbb/pagina-inicial/voce/produtos-e-ser... (other banks might have them too, but the ones I've personally seen are on this list).
fragmede 4y ago
> I can't think of any country I've been to other than the US which let me withdrawal USD from an ATM. Have you been to Argentina or even anywhere in Latin America? You can't just visit a country like, say, Sweden and use Swedish Kronas or Korea and use Korean Wons and from there extrapolate that in $country you just use $local_country_currency and it's as simple as that. In countries where the local currency is unstable, transacting in USD in some manner is just a fact of life. Eg People in Costa Rica who work for US corporations may just get paid partially in USD, as well as in Colóns. More to the point is that the reason the expectation is there, is that Argentinians used to be able to visit the ATM and pull out USD until currency controls were enacted, and that the surprise is that even US citizens can't pull out USD.
- EdwardDiego 4y ago
  > that even US citizens can't pull out USD Did I miss some weird constitutional amendment that American citizens have super-duper special status at overseas ATMs? The fact of US citizenship is entirely irrelevant to what notes come out of an ATM.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    Are ATMs mysterious black boxes that dispenses random amounts of paper to random people, at random times? Of course not! The person standing in front of the ATM is entirely relevant to what comes out of the ATM. First check is that there's enough money in their bank account, but other bits of information, like their citizenship status are relevant to the transaction. American citizens typically have US bank accounts with US dollars in them, and the super-duper special status that they have; the privilege that US citizens enjoy, is that the US government has no currency trading control. As a US citizen you're allowed to trade away all of your USD for whatever other currency you want. If you had the luck to be born in a country with a strong currency, like Sweden, you're also blessed with this privilege, but if you're from a different country, like say, Argentina, then you're only allowed to trade a certain amount before you're cut off, which the bank, and by extension the ATM will check. It's less about US citizens having some super-duper special status, but that they have rights that people that only have Argentinian citizenship don't have. Of course, being a US citizen isn't going to magically turn the bills inside the ATM into USD, but prior to the currency controls, Argentinian ATMs had USD to dispense, to both Argentina and US citizens, as well as citizens of other countries. The stated goals of Argentina's currency controls was to stop the out flow of Pesos to USD. An American tourist visiting Argentina is going to spend their money in Argentina while they are there, which, no matter how you denominate it, which would be an inflow of money to Argentina. When the controls were announced, the banks went overboard implementing their blocking, which also prevented this inflow of money into the country. Which is why it's remarkable.
ulfw 4y ago
You need to travel more often then. You can get USD out of Citibank ATMs in Hong Kong (and many many others too, I just happen to use Citi last week).
- refurb 4y ago
  Not sure about ATMs, but in Singapore the banks are happy to transact in USD, including withdrawals in USD from SGD accounts (with a pretty decent conversion rate).
danielfoster 4y ago
This is normal.
gspetr 4y ago
You could trivially cash out thousands of dollars in ATMs of many banks, both foreign and domestic, in a certain "world's enemy No.1" country before Feb 24.
- trashtester 4y ago
  I think you're talking about "world enemy No.2". #1 has 10x the GDP compared to #2.
neither_color 4y ago
Off the top of my head ATMs in Cambodia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Panama all give out USD.
- sdfhbdf 4y ago
  Ecuador is not surprising since it’s official currency is USD
  - el-salvador 4y ago
    El Salvador and Panamá too. Even though for accounting reasons Panama calls it Balboa, its actually USD banknotes and Balboa coins at a 1=1 exchange rate.
kilroy123 4y ago
Yes lots of countries have this around the world.
odiroot 4y ago
Most airports in Europe have ATMs that let you cash out EUR,GBP,USD.
kingofpandora 4y ago
Pretty common, not even counting countries like Lebanon where USD used interchangeably with the local currency.

Scoundreller 4y ago

Some Canadian banks have ATMs on Canadian soil in airports and border towns that will dispense USD. I’d guess “dollarized” non-US countries definitely do too.

Mountain_Skies 4y ago
Yes, in Ecuador that happens, which is nice if you're a tourist from the US. When I was there, the local bank didn't even add a fee for using their ATM, though my US bank added their own charge. Still better than in the US where both banks would add a fee.
trashtester 4y ago
I don't think those ATM's carry the dollars for use within Canada, though. Rather, they're there so that travellers can bring some dollars to countries with a non-functioning financial system (for instance with currency controls).

santimt 4y ago

In Uruguay, neighbor of Argentina, you can extract up to 500 USD daily from ATMs.

cesarb 4y ago

Here in Brazil, I've seen a couple of ATMs from a major bank which allow you to directly get USD out of them. I searched just now and found a list of these ATMs: https://www.bb.com.br/pbb/pagina-inicial/voce/produtos-e-servicos/contas/todos-os-servicos/taa-cambio#/ https://www.bb.com.br/pbb/pagina-inicial/voce/produtos-e-ser... (other banks might have them too, but the ones I've personally seen are on this list).

fragmede 4y ago

> I can't think of any country I've been to other than the US which let me withdrawal USD from an ATM. Have you been to Argentina or even anywhere in Latin America? You can't just visit a country like, say, Sweden and use Swedish Kronas or Korea and use Korean Wons and from there extrapolate that in $country you just use $local_country_currency and it's as simple as that. In countries where the local currency is unstable, transacting in USD in some manner is just a fact of life. Eg People in Costa Rica who work for US corporations may just get paid partially in USD, as well as in Colóns. More to the point is that the reason the expectation is there, is that Argentinians used to be able to visit the ATM and pull out USD until currency controls were enacted, and that the surprise is that even US citizens can't pull out USD.

EdwardDiego 4y ago
> that even US citizens can't pull out USD Did I miss some weird constitutional amendment that American citizens have super-duper special status at overseas ATMs? The fact of US citizenship is entirely irrelevant to what notes come out of an ATM.
- fragmede 4y ago
  Are ATMs mysterious black boxes that dispenses random amounts of paper to random people, at random times? Of course not! The person standing in front of the ATM is entirely relevant to what comes out of the ATM. First check is that there's enough money in their bank account, but other bits of information, like their citizenship status are relevant to the transaction. American citizens typically have US bank accounts with US dollars in them, and the super-duper special status that they have; the privilege that US citizens enjoy, is that the US government has no currency trading control. As a US citizen you're allowed to trade away all of your USD for whatever other currency you want. If you had the luck to be born in a country with a strong currency, like Sweden, you're also blessed with this privilege, but if you're from a different country, like say, Argentina, then you're only allowed to trade a certain amount before you're cut off, which the bank, and by extension the ATM will check. It's less about US citizens having some super-duper special status, but that they have rights that people that only have Argentinian citizenship don't have. Of course, being a US citizen isn't going to magically turn the bills inside the ATM into USD, but prior to the currency controls, Argentinian ATMs had USD to dispense, to both Argentina and US citizens, as well as citizens of other countries. The stated goals of Argentina's currency controls was to stop the out flow of Pesos to USD. An American tourist visiting Argentina is going to spend their money in Argentina while they are there, which, no matter how you denominate it, which would be an inflow of money to Argentina. When the controls were announced, the banks went overboard implementing their blocking, which also prevented this inflow of money into the country. Which is why it's remarkable.

ulfw 4y ago

You need to travel more often then. You can get USD out of Citibank ATMs in Hong Kong (and many many others too, I just happen to use Citi last week).

refurb 4y ago
Not sure about ATMs, but in Singapore the banks are happy to transact in USD, including withdrawals in USD from SGD accounts (with a pretty decent conversion rate).

danielfoster 4y ago

This is normal.

gspetr 4y ago

You could trivially cash out thousands of dollars in ATMs of many banks, both foreign and domestic, in a certain "world's enemy No.1" country before Feb 24.

trashtester 4y ago
I think you're talking about "world enemy No.2". #1 has 10x the GDP compared to #2.

neither_color 4y ago

Off the top of my head ATMs in Cambodia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Panama all give out USD.

sdfhbdf 4y ago
Ecuador is not surprising since it’s official currency is USD
- el-salvador 4y ago
  El Salvador and Panamá too. Even though for accounting reasons Panama calls it Balboa, its actually USD banknotes and Balboa coins at a 1=1 exchange rate.

kilroy123 4y ago

Yes lots of countries have this around the world.

odiroot 4y ago

Most airports in Europe have ATMs that let you cash out EUR,GBP,USD.

kingofpandora 4y ago

Pretty common, not even counting countries like Lebanon where USD used interchangeably with the local currency.