BitXatm Announces ATM with Merchant-Friendly Point of Sale Function

Dan Palmer | Published on April 8, 2014 at 10:29 BST | Bitcoin ATM, Merchants, Technology

Germany-based startup BitXatm has announced the arrival of its Sumo Pro – a cryptocurrency ATM with a POS (point of sale) function that will appeal to merchants seeking to easily accept payments from customers in digital currencies.
Costing €2,900 (around $3,993), the stand-alone machine offers a generous 17-inch touchscreen and has the ability to accept any fiat currency. Additionally, it can accept or dispense any digital currency, according to the company’s website.

Operators of the Sumo Pro are able to link up with any exchange partner’s API to facilitate the supply of digital currencies, improve liquidity and enhance security.
The machine offers a web-based back-end, so owners can keep an eye on cash flow, profits, or change settings such as the fiat-to-bitcoin exchange rate from their web browser. Furthermore, proprietors can opt to receive SMS notifications for things like transactions or fund balance.

For businesses that need to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) laws, the machine provides an identification check on customers using the device’s ATM function, which can be further enhanced with an optional fingerprint scanner.

How it works

As illustrated in the video below, the Sumo Pro offers a quick and easy method for customers to pay for products or services using their mobile devices.
In the restaurant example shown, the waitress sets up a transaction at payment time by logging into her staff account and entering the bill total, then prints out a paper receipt for the customer.
The customer then scans the QR code on the receipt into his or her digital wallet, checks the amount, then clicks ‘send’. The transaction indicates it’s complete soon after on the Sumo Pro screen, and the customer is free to go – or do the washing up if they don’t have sufficient funds.
The process looks very simple – certainly as easy as paying with a credit card – and the Sumo Pro also provides a reassuringly professional looking front end that should help to inspire confidence in new bitcoin customers possibly made wary by recent media gloom surrounding cryptocurrencies.
The BitXatm machine also offers merchants the chance to bring in some extra income via interest on transactions when the Sumo Pro is used in its ATM mode.

Competitive market

The Sumo Pro is manufactured in Romania, according to BitXatm. It will start shipping machines in May. If they sell out, there will be a 30-day pre-order window for new purchases.
The company faces increasing competition from other startups in the bitcoin ATM arena: Robocoin has seen great success and sends machines all over the globe, as does Lamassu, who also plans to enhance its machines for other bitcoin services, such as remittances. Other companies are also gearing up for the fray.
However, the unique selling proposition of the Sumo Pro is its user-friendly POS feature. If it really is as simple as the video would have us believe, it may be a product that will start finding its way into the mainstream.
BitXatm also aims to carve itself a decent slice of the market with the very competitive €2,900 price tag. Robocoin (at $20,000) and Lamassu (at $5,000) are both pricer and offer fewer functions – for now. Yesterday’s announcement of a €1,000 ATM from PayMaQ may worry the company, but their machine lacks the attractive POS function of the Sumo Pro.
This is the kind of technology that many have been pushing for: easy-to-use, with elegant systems to ease the on-ramp for consumers and businesses alike entering the world of digital currencies. Let’s hope the Sumo Pro lives up to its potential.
Why not check out Money-Spinners, our regular roundup of the latest cryptocurrency ATMs?

Inside Bitcoins NYC Day 1: Bitcoin 2.0 Takes Center Stage

Tom Sharkey | Published on April 8, 2014 at 00:26 BST | Events, News

More than 2,000 digital currency enthusiasts gathered at the Javits Center in New York City on 7th April for the city’s second Inside Bitcoins conference and expo, organised by Mediabistro.
Attendees traveled to New York from more than 30 countries and 38 US states to hear speeches from industry leaders about the usual topics, such as the future potential and big-picture implications of bitcoin for consumers and the financial markets.
As the day progressed, though, panelists began to emphasize the opportunities of Bitcoin 2.0 and applications of the Bitcoin protocol beyond currency, and notably turned attention to the topic of governmental regulation of digital currencies.
The event kicked off with Alan Meckler, the CEO and Chairman of Mediabistro, who welcomed the crowd and noted the dramatic increase in attendance from last year’s Inside Bitcoins NYC event, which he said had just over 150 attendees.

A ‘buzzing’ crowd

Even before Circle’s Founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire kicked off his opening keynote address – which centred on bringing bitcoin to mainstream audiences, Inside Bitcoins NYC conference programmer Stewart Quealy commented on the energy in the room, saying:

“It’s great to be in this room and feel the energy of the crowd. There’s a certain buzz in the air of everyone who is excited about the potential in this industry.”

This was evidenced by the number of startup companies who signed up as exhibitors and showcased their work in a variety of fields, including mining, cloud storage and regulatory compliance consulting.
Conference attendees lined the exhibition hall during the lunch break to learn more about the diverse offerings of exhibitors, and even participated in a live bitcoin trading session hosted by the Bitcoin Center NYC.

Diverse topics and opinions

Day one of the conference played host to a diversity of topics discussed by a wide range of industry professionals. Panels focused on issues such as regulation, mainstream adoption, the startup ecosystem and security, among others.
Unsurprisingly, the variety of topics brought with them a variety of opinions and viewpoints.
More than once when questions were fielded from the audience, members of the panel made a point to speak up in opposition of their fellow panelists’ perspectives.
In a panel titled ‘Moving Bitcoin Forward: Bringing Trust, Legitimacy and Transparency to the Market’, moderator Michael Terpin, co-founder of BitAngels, asked for a show of hands as to which area holds the most importance for increasing the number of bitcoin users: ease of use, security, regulation, public perception, economics, or liquidity?
While there were votes for each of the five areas of concern, there was a clear majority consensus that bitcoin’s ease of use is the most important factor in growing the industry; members of the panel agreed.

A maturing industry

One recurring theme across the board from Monday’s panels and keynote speeches was the notion that the digital currency industry is rapidly evolving, and that it has already come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2009.
During a panel discussion titled ‘New Ideas in Bitcoin’, speakers highlighted the emerging ideas in digital currencies that expand beyond bitcoin’s use solely as a currency.
Ryan Charleston, founder and CEO of Bitcorati, used the Internet as a metaphor for bitcoin’s potential:

‘Bitcoin represents Internet 2.0. I’m happy [we're] shifting away from talking about bitcoin only as a currency,’ R. Charleston @bitcorati
— CoinDesk (@coindesk) April 7, 2014

Regulation and education

The topic of regulation was a primary focus in many of Monday’s panel discussions. A number of different viewpoints on regulation were presented from panelists, but the popular stance seemed to be that some level of regulation will be necessary in order for bitcoin to achieve mainstream adoption.
Jacob Farber, senior counsel at Perkins Coie LLP, noted the contrasting attitudes that the bitcoin community holds about regulation, stating:

“I’m struck by the seemingly mass acceptance of regulation in this room. There are contrasting interests between the original crowd who are averse to regulation and the new innovators working on Bitcoin 2.0.”

Other panelists, like Izzy Klein of Podesta Group, believe that regulation is inevitable.
As such, Klein argued that there needs to be more consensus among regulators in their approach to dealing with digital currencies:

“When you start to get mixed messages out of regulators, you start to get contradictory regulations.” @izzysk of @PodestaGroup #bitcoinconf
— CoinDesk (@coindesk) April 7, 2014

Educating regulators about bitcoin’s underlying technology and its value for the global economy is paramount for productive and meaningful regulation, Klein said.

Closing remarks

The first day of Inside Bitcoins NYC drew a large crowd with diverse interests and opinions, and the variety of panelists and discussions ensured that the conference offered something to appeal to everybody’s interests.
Topics like regulation and entrepreneurial opportunity held a particular focus throughout the day, and though not everybody shared the same opinions, it was clear that attendees felt that they were part of a rapidly evolving and disruptive industry.
Images by Tom Sharkey and Pete Rizzo

Google Coin May Stand Up Against Bitcoin

Added by Daris Abraham on January 26, 2014.
Saved under Daris Abraham, Opinion, Technology
Tags: google

A recent e-mail conversation between Google executives and a curious columnist had indicated the internet giant’s intention to include Bitcoin as a medium of payment for transactions. However, the truth might be far from this and Google may be already on the road to stand up against Bitcoin with its own Google Coin.
The news of Google-Bitcoin integration had created a lot of flutter in the tech circuit since Bitcoin getting attention from a prestigious company like Google would give it the required reputation boost. Google’s Senior VP of Ads and Commerce, Sridhar Ramaswamy, had apparently confirmed through the e-mail that the company was in midst of a working strategy to integrate alternate payment solutions like Bitcoin.
Bitcoin’s disadvantages in its current form, however, makes it very difficult for Google to quickly align its service with the digital currency. Moreover, Google itself dealing with the currency transaction through its platform could result in multiple issues and even a possible litigation for the company through the still unreliable Bitcoin universe.
Customers and users of Bitcoin have been cribbing about the various usage issues involving Bitcoin including security and ease in interface for the transactions. Yet, there seems to be no let up in the ever-increasing popularity of the digital currency. It is clearly visible that Bitcoin has captured the imagination of many and can become a powerful element in the future.
Thus, Google is most likely to introduce a rival to Bitcoin with the introduction of a robust coin system capable of standing up against it. This will ensure that the company is able to serve the ever-increasing customer demand for an independent and universal digital currency transactions.
With Google’s extensive experience and research capabilities it can quickly encompass the issues that currently haunt the Bitcoin service and ensure availability of a seamless system for users across geographical locations:

• Google Drive for Google Coin Wallet 

The biggest concern of every Bitcoin user is the loss of Bitcoins to wallet file corruption from hard disk crashes or virus attacks. Any loss of Bitcoins from such data corruption is forever lost in the system and there are no available measures to claim the orphaned coins back.
Google Drive and the Google Wallet can essentially resolve this issue within no time as both services can hold data away from such mundane issues and keep Google Coins safe for its users. Google Coin millionaires and billionaires will feel far more secure with their hard-earned money.

• Traceable Transactions 

The serious adoption of digital currency has been plagued by bans in some countries like Thailand for its already reported use in buying drugs and in other illegal transactions. The lack of traceability of transactions by the authorities is a worrying concern which could find more countries pursuing a total ban in the future.
Google with its “One account, All of Google” service can effectively keep every transaction completely traceable. Illegal transactions once discovered can be mapped back to the suspects involved.

• Irreversible Payments

Lack of a central payment authority certainly undermines the possibility of resolution of any payment related errors that can occur for Bitcoin users. Non-reversible payments has continues to be an issue but Google with its Wallet service can quickly look into a possible solution of the same, possibly by setting up a central authority for regulation and addressing grievances.

• Escrow Services for Buyer Protection

Google Wallet can effectively be an escrow account service as well for all transactions that has a waiting period attached to it. Buyers can make the payment into the Google Wallet which can be later released once the seller delivers its promised service effectively.

• Ease of Use of Interface

Bitcoin interface remains confusing for almost all current users and new users are finding it extremely difficult to navigate through the services. This deficiency in ease of usage has been the reason behind the lack of wide-scale adoption of the digital currency.
Known for its dumbed down user-interface for all its platforms and services, Google is already a master of simplicity. Google Coin, thus, can be launched with an easy to use platform for better adopt-ability by all users concerned.
Bitcoin is at its very nascent stage of evolution and as more and more people discover its benefits, more chinks will definitely emerge. Google’s vast team present in the payments and Wallet section would definitely watching over and would be able to resolve these issues faster with its Google Coin services as against Bitcoin. Google for sure has the ability to stand up strong to rival Bitcoin and may even surpass its popularity with its own Google Coin service.
By Daris Abraham
Sources:
Wallstcheatsheet
Blackbambu
Stanford.edu
Yahoo
Telegraph