Photo: Coinme / Twitter
To go to a grocery shop to buy Bitcoin? Quite soon this idea won’t sound too crazy for you. Thanks to the collaboration of Coinme, a venture-backed blockchain financial services company, and Coinstar, a producer of kiosks for selling gift cards, consumers will have a possibility to purchase BTC in selected Coinstar outlets placed in grocery stores.
Convenient Option to Enter the Crypto World
At the current moment, consumers can buy cryptocurrency at Coinstar kiosks at select Safeway and Albertsons stores located in California, Texas, and Washington. Nevertheless, it is expected that following a successful launch the initiative will be expanded across other U.S. markets.
According to the announcement made by Coinme, this new option represents itself the simplest and the most comfortable way to purchase crypto paying in cash.
Speaking about their new project, Neil Bergquist, who is a co-founder and CEO of Coinme, expressed his excitement and stated:
“We’re excited to team up with Coinstar to give consumers a convenient and easy way to buy Bitcoin during the course of their daily routine. Bitcoin is now accessible at your local grocery store via Coinstar kiosks, and this offering will make it even easier for consumers to participate in this dynamic new economy.”
Peculiarities of New Kiosks
Now Coinstar owns and operates more than 20,000 fully automated self-service coin-counting kiosks in nine countries. Thousands of these machines are located in the U.S. market, nevertheless, there is no precise information on the number of kiosks that will offer customers an option to purchase Bitcoin.
But some details have been already revealed. Though initially the kiosks operated by Coinstar were intended for converting coins into cash or gift cards, now it will be impossible to use coins for Bitcoin transactions. Only U.S. dollar bills will be accepted but there will be a limit of $2,500.
The entire procedure is very simple: customers will need to specify their phone number and insert their cash. When the operation is completed, they will get a code that should be used to redeem Bitcoin via a Coinme account that a user should create or sign in.
Jim Gaherity, Coinstar CEO, also spoke about their project:
“Coinstar is always looking for new ways to offer value to our consumers when they visit our kiosks, and Coinme’s innovative delivery mechanism along with Coinstar’s flexible platform makes it possible for consumers to easily purchase Bitcoin with cash.”
Crypto and Bitcoin ATM Market
In the context of this new Coinme and Coinstar’s initiative, it’s worth mentioning that crypto ATMs are actively gaining popularity nowadays. They are considered to be the easiest way of dealing with cryptocurrencies which is the main reason why more and more people turn to their services.
As of September 2018, the Bitcoin ATM market valued $16.3 million (in 2017, this indicator was $6.8 million). Nevertheless, experts believe that it will achieve$145 million in value by 2023.
