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Watchdog and West Yorkshire police raid crypto ATM operators in UK first
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- colesantiago 4y ago[flagged]
- _5uxp 4y agoI'm sorry that majority of crypto people, content and companies, made you think that way. Crypto offers and has potential to be more than that but fails to educate masses. Here is one fact, at very basic level, crypto helps sci-hub funded > more access to research and scentific writing. Also help people in 3rd world countries to hold usd equivalent (not perfect, yet). I know these are hard to see, while living in western economy with lots of access to things.
- colesantiago 4y agoPlease tell that to the people who invested all their life savings in FTX and LUNA. Most of what you have suggested is already done by the existing financial system. Crypto is ALL a complete scam.
- _5uxp 4y agoPlease tell that to the people who invested in their local currencies in Argentina, Lebanon, Nigeria and more. Most ot what you write is just a misinformation. Crypto is not all scam.
- colesantiago 4y ago> Please tell that to the people who invested in their local currencies in Argentina, Lebanon, Nigeria and more. Most people use crypto not to send money anyway so it has completely failed as a means of payment and as any legitimate viable use case. To suggest that people in those countries should use a much worse solution akin to a ponzi or pyramid scheme so that they can lose even more money due to scams, ransomware and volatility is beyond laughable. Crypto is a scam, I don't think we need more rugpulls, exchange meltdowns to understand this basic fact.
- notch898a 4y agoWhen I buy crypto I am buying a signed chain of custody of some quantity of imaginary unit of account on a distributed ledger. That's it. If you think it is something more you're only scamming yourself.
- colesantiago 4y ago> When I buy crypto I am buying a signed chain of custody of some quantity of imaginary unit of account on a distributed ledger. So speculation. Got it.
- robinduckett 4y agoSpoken like someone who has a story to tell!
- capableweb 4y ago> There are no crypto ATMs registered with the FCA, meaning any crypto ATM operating in the UK is doing so illegally. Who is stupid enough to operate a ATM (cryptocurrency or not) illegally? This has the be the height of stupidity.
- DharmaPolice 4y agoThese things have been around for years now. In the early days maybe they assumed they could be just be classed as vending machines.
- daniel_iversen 4y agoGreat question! I wonder if there are laws or loopholes that could make it ok, or how it compares to other forms of intermediary Exonumia/tokens[1] that can be exchanged for goods or cash? [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonumia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonumia [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_token https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_token
- aa-jv 4y agoThe one Bitcoin ATM in New Zealand has turnover of +$200k/week. That's a lot of stupid money.
- localplume 4y agoProbably people with not a lot of other options to turn crypto into some more liquid? IIRC most UK banks (including challengers) are completely hostile to anything crypto, so I'm not sure what options one would have.
- potatototoo99 4y agoSo, is it possible to register a crypto ATM firm or is it just another way of banning things?
- LikesPwsh 4y agoHow could someone apply aml/kyc without removing all the actual purpose of a crypto atm? The haircut is so large on those machines that the only use cases at the moment are financial crimes.
- martinald 4y agoYou could but noone has managed it successfully. I imagine these ATMs were heavily used for money laundering/illict reasons, so probably with the KYC requirements the FCA requires the operators knew there would be no business and didn't bother applying. Why would you pay punitive fees to an ATM operator to get bitcoin if you could just deposit the cash in your bank and buy 'normally' for many % less with a card/bank transfer?
- nibbleshifter 4y agoA few years ago some of the ATM's I saw in the UK did have limits, KYC/AML, etc. For any transaction worth a damn, you had to register an account online, provide ID, etc. You would get a code via SMS when you used the machine to authenticate. A few models had a built in passport scanner type thing and webcam, another had a fucking fingerprint reader. It was pretty much the same level of KYC/AML you needed to transact at Coinbase or Kraken, but you could input or receive actual paper cash, which seems to have upset the regulator so those machines went away as well as the no-KYC ones.
- michaelt 4y ago> It was pretty much the same level of KYC/AML you needed to transact at Coinbase or Kraken, but you could input or receive actual paper cash, which seems to have upset the regulator so those machines went away as well as the no-KYC ones. I assumed they went away because they combined the fat markups of bitcoin ATMs with the KYC inconvenience of Coinbase.
- 4y ago
- boredumb 4y ago8 or so years ago in uptown manhattan you'd see these btc ATMs in shady bodegas that I was convinced were being used for laundering money back, unless the frequenters of the surrounding methadone clinics were more astute investors than what I assumed.
- martinald 4y agoSame thing in the UK. Groups of very suspect looking people feeding loads of cash into them in small grocery shops. I think a lot of them actually stopped doing it because the ATMs themselves were becoming a huge crime target, with so much cash in them and not particularly hard to remove.
- from 4y agoWould you mind describing what "very suspect people" look like?
- walthamstow 4y agoI was likely one of them and I can confirm we were very shifty looking. Mostly because we couldn't believe laundering money was this easy and surely the police will jump out at any moment (they never did)
- pavlov 4y agoNavy-blue Armani suit, garish yellow Bitcoin necktie, and a Thiel Foundation lapel pin. Beware of geeks bearing libertarian currencies.
- michaelt 4y agoEh, I always assumed bitcoin ATMs just looked for the stores that do things like Western Union, lottery tickets, parcel drop-off etc - i.e. businesses who want a secondary revenue stream which gets people into the store.
- from 4y ago
- LatteLazy 4y agoSurely anyone using an ATM already passed KYC as they are using a bank account? Do LINK etc separately KYC me when I use a machine for (GBP) cash? I doubt it...
- martinald 4y agoIt's the other way round. People putting cash in. Which you can do at certain ATMs but they have quite low amounts as far as I know.
- jaclaz 4y agoBesides the low amount, it is where the cash go (your account) that is identified/traceable on normal (those that accept deposits of cash and even cheques are called "evoluted" here) ATM's.
- Consultant32452 4y agoI wanted to see what these were like so I decided to burn $20 at one once and see if I could get any crypto out of it. They do the full KYC experience, so you have to scan your ID, get a text message and respond, it was wild to have to do this whole process standing in a convenience store. I definitely assumed I was having my identity stolen. But my identity was not stolen, I did the KYC steps, inserted cash, and got a paper slip with a BTC address on it with my money. The fees were insane, I don't remember but it was probably like $5 in total fees for my $20 transaction.
- from 4y agoThis is not really news - these people just didn't get licensed. There probably never will be any more licensed operators in the UK because the FCA is creating increasingly onerous requirements. In America every week there are unlicensed money transmitter prosecutions including for crypto ATMs, Paxful traders, Hawaladars (and their Chinese equivalents), etc. You have to fill out a form on the FINCEN website, get a lawyer to give you a template compliance manual, and depending on your state do the same thing there. Not really a big deal.
- zabzonk 4y agoyou are lucky to find an atm, crypto or otherwise (or a physical bank branch, come to that) in the uk these days.