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San Antonio Cryptocurrency News

Inside of an unassuming convenience store along Callaghan Road sits an ATM that’s likely different than any you’ve used before.

The machine allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency widely known for its volatile value — as well as the ardent support it enjoys from cryptocurrency enthusiasts and the intense skepticism many business leaders and academics have toward the digital currency.

San Antonio currently has about 31 cryptocurrency ATMs — largely located in gas stations and convenience San Antonio Local News stores — that are owned by several different operators. They allow users to  create an account, then buy and sell Bitcoin for a fee, typically between 5 and 20 percent, according to Coin ATM Radar, a site that tracks installation of the ATMs globally.

Coinsource, one of the largest cryptocurrency ATM operators in the nation, announced recently it was “ramping up deployment” of the machines in San Antonio and across Texas.

The increase of the ATMs, Bitcoin advocates say, will greatly enhance the accessibility of the digital currency to the public as the machines are adopted, and will move Bitcoin from its original home on the fringes of the internet into the commercial and monetary mainstream.

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Bitcoin is the most widely-used cryptocurrency. Proponents tout the decentralized nature of the digital currency, and its use outside of the traditional banking and financial system.

No central bank or single nation owns San Antonio Press Release or operates the cryptocurrency system. The goal for supporters of the currency  is to allow anyone in the world to make peer-to-peer monetary transactions at any time without having to go through financial or governmental intermediaries.

Bitcoin, which was created in but remained difficult to acquire until recent years, has fluctuated wildly in value since becoming more popular earlier this decade.

San Antonio Digital Currency News

After peaking in value at around $20,000 per Bitcoin in late 2017, the digital currency tumbled to below $3,200 per coin by mid-December of last year.

Coinsource, one of the largest San Antonio cryptocurrency News  operators in the nation, announced recently it was “ramping up deployment” of the machines in San Antonio and across Texas. Coinsource, one of the largest cryptocurrency ATM operators in the nation, announced recently it was “ramping up deployment” of the machines in San Antonio and across Texas. Photo: Mike Fisher/Staff Artist On a recent day, Oct. 2, Bitcoin’s value hit $8,414 per coin, only to drop by around 3 percent hours later, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks cryptocurrency prices.

The number of cryptocurrency ATMs in the U.S. has dramatically increased over the last five years, especially within the last year, according to Coin ATM Radar.

The first Bitcoin ATMs in the U.S. were installed in March . By , there were 429 of the ATMs nationwide. Since then, the number has grown to over 3,800 cryptocurrency ATMs across the country.

In the last year, nearly 1,500 additional cryptocurrency ATMs have been installed nationwide.

“We are spearheading mainstream adoptability and accessibility to be able to buy and sell cryptocurrency,” said Derek Muhney, director of national sales with Coinsource, the cryptocurrency ATM manufacturer and operator.

“We definitely see (the number of cryptocurrency ATMs) going to six figures and beyond,” he said.

Coinsource, one of the largest cryptocurrency ATM operators in the nation, announced recently it was “ramping up deployment” of the machines in San Antonio and across Texas. Coinsource, one of the largest cryptocurrency ATM operators in the nation, announced recently it was “ramping up deployment” of the machines in San Antonio and across Texas. But while local cryptocurrency investors laud the introduction of additional crypto ATMs in San Antonio, others are skeptical the currency and the ATM proliferation.

“Easy access to cryptocurrency through ATMs is actually detrimental,” said Ashwin Malshe, a professor San Antonio Local News of  marketing at University of Texas at San Antonio, and an expert in e-commerce and cryptocurrency.

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“When you hold U.S. dollars in your bank, you don’t wake up the next morning and see your bank account is worth 50 percent of what it was yesterday. That can happen with cryptocurrency — that can be somebody’s life savings wiped out overnight,” Malshe said.

But crypto-optimists and proponents of the ATMs say they provide benefits such as offering communities without banks or credit unions access to financial tools, including storing and sending money.

One example might be a person without a checking or savings account purchasing Bitcoin on an ATM and sending the money elsewhere, or simply saving it to lower the risk of carrying a large amount of cash, according to Muhney.

Muhney said the ATMs provide a way for users to buy or sell Bitcoin instantaneously. Users can also exchange the digital currency for cash on the spot.

Traditional online Bitcoin exchanges — chiefly Coinbase — allow people to trade Bitcoins, but users can wait for weeks to receive their money or Bitcoins.

And the history of fraud, theft and illicit trade associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies often makes people hesitant to hand over their bank information to cryptocurrency exchange companies, Muhney said.

But with ATMs from Coinsource and most other operators, users typically create an online digital wallet and aren’t required to share banking information, Muhney said.

And while the price does fluctuate, he said, it wouldn’t necessarily be hazardous to store your money on a Bitcoin ATM because the value of the currency continues to grow in the long run.

“Even at its current price today, it’s still up 200 percent from the beginning of the year,” Muhney said. “Yes, there is fluctuation, but year by year, its going in the right direction.”

Crypto-advocates are quick to point out that the digital currencies have been declared dead during price downturns throughout the decade, only to rebound and continue rising in value.

Alex Eaton is a co-founder of the San Antonio Crypto Network, where he consults with potential cryptocurrency investors and educates people about the digital currency.

He said his experience in the Army, when he was deployed to the Middle East as a medic, showed him what can happen when nations and their economic systems collapse.

“I just don’t think anything is too big to fail,” Eaton said.

Eaton supports the addition of more Bitcoin ATMs because it allows people to easily access the cryptocurrency, and the proliferation of the ATMs could make for a seamless global system, he said.

“With Bitcoin ATMs in every city across globe, you can travel with Bitcoin, download a Bitcoin wallet onto your phone and travel anywhere in the world,” Eaton said. “As long as you know how to securely store your bitcoin, no one can take it.”

Even so, Eaton is supportive of regulating cryptocurrencies to help reduce fraud. He admits even he’s been scammed.

“It’s so easy to scam people in this space because most people in this space are very amateur — they don’t know much about it,” he said.

Crypto scams can include hacks into  your virtual wallet, with thieves stealing your Bitcoin, or fraudulent exchanges that may swipe money you try to send through them. Some scammers have even created fake companies to persuade people to invest Bitcoin before disappearing with the money.

Both Eaton and Malshe said that in San Antonio Sports News the early days of cryptocurrency, it was largely used to anonymously make illicit transactions, primarily of drugs on sites such as the now-defunct Silk Road.

Malshe dismissed the vigor with which crypto-advocates promote the digital currency as enthusiasm borne from self-interest.

“If I’m sitting on 15 Bitcoins, which I bought for pennies, now I have very strong incentive to hype that up and then I can make money. I’m going to always be very aggressive and strong promoting it to anyone who will listen,” Malshe said. “It’s a classic pump-and-dump strategy. This is the salesperson attitude.”

Malshe said he doesn’t think it’s likely Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies reach a point where they are used for retail or daily transactions en masse.

“I don’t see that. The governments are going to lose control of their own currency, which is super difficult to believe any country is willing to do that,” he said, noting that China last year has already banned all activity related to cryptocurrency trading. “The monetary policy of the country is very important.”

Muhney, of Coinsource, said when credit cards were first introduced as payments options midway through last century, businesses were likely skeptical about the idea of allowing payment via the new method. Eventually, of course, credit cards became nearly-universally adopted.

“That’s where we’re going with this. We make it as easy as it can be to be able to buy and sell this and as easy as it can be for business owners to accept it,” Muhney said. “All they’re doing is allowing themselves to receive an additional stream of revenue.”

But Malshe said you shouldn’t expect to use Bitcoin to make regular purchases any time soon — and he didn’t recommend investing in the digital currency or using the incoming ATM machines.

“If it’s a very knowledgeable person who knows what they’re getting into, I can understand (using cryptocurrency ATMs). But they don’t need an ATM. I overall don’t see this as a positive development,” Malshe said. “I don’t see a world where crypto is going to become easy to use everywhere.”

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