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Bitcoin, Robocoin ATM chalk up some ka-ching

December 2, 2013

It's been a big year for Bitcoin. The virtual currency got its first currency accepting/dispensing ATM just a little more than a month ago, and is now boasting phenomenal buying power — for the minuscule range of products you can buy with it, anyway.

On Oct. 29, Bitcoin ATM-maker Robocoin took live the first of a handful of machines purchased by a company named Bitcoiniacs, which plans to install its five units in the Canadian market by the end of the year.

The first machine, located in a Vancouver coffee shop, racked up a total of CA $1 million ($939,761) in exchange value (approximately 1,500 individual transactions) within its first month, according to News BTC. 

Also during this time, the currency nearly quintupled in value from about $204 on Oct. 29 to $1,012 on Nov. 29. That's per bitcoin. At today's close, a bitcoin was valued at $1063. If the currency's transaction numbers and trading value hold up, next month's total transaction value will be remarkable.

That could be a big "if," though. TechCrunch blogger Alex Wilhelm and others who follow the currency believe that bitcoin value is inflated. "The market capitalization of the Bitcoin market is far above the potential stored functional use of the currency in even the medium-term, implying to me that it is overvalued," Wilhelm wrote.

If that's the case, transaction volume might be the category to experience a remarkable number at the Bitcoin ATM as owners cash out. If you bought big on Jan. 1 when a bitcoin cost $13.22, today might be a good time to do that.

Read more about ATM innovation.