Mastering Bitcoin Author Andreas Antonopoulos recently gave at talk at Harvard’s i-lab, spending much of his time in front of a small audience describing the various issues with Bitcoin as a brand.He noted many problems with the terminology used in Bitcoin, and he also focused on specific products or services in the Bitcoin space that seem to be doing a disservice to potential users.At one point during the presentation, Antonopoulos turned his attention to Bitcoin ATMs, asking the audience how many of them had used one of the machines in the past.While a few people raised their hands, those hands went down when Antonopoulos then asked how many of them enjoyed their experience with the Bitcoin ATM.To explain the user experience issues with Bitcoin ATMs, Antonopoulos first talked about the setup of traditional bank ATMs: “When you interact as a person with an ATM, 1. you have a pre-existing relationship with the bank or financial institution; 2. you have a pre-existing balance; 3. your primary objective is to get in, get cash, [and] get out.

Twenty seconds is too long.Three clicks is too long.” In other words, there is no need for long explanations or user-onboarding with traditional ATMs.Everyone who uses them already has a debit card, and they’ve already interacted with the corresponding bank in the past.The process can be simple because the user already has his or her bank account setup.Bitcoin ATMs Have Nothing in Common with Traditional ATMs According to Antonopoulos, many Bitcoin ATM developers have been looking too closely at how traditional bank ATMs work when designing their own machines.He noted that Bitcoin ATMs have “absolutely nothing” in common with the ATMs that are currently used by banks, and he went on to describe the experience an average person has when attempting to use a Bitcoin ATM for the first time: “The average user of Bitcoin ATM is someone who has never seen bitcoin before.It is a person who doesn’t understand what bitcoin is, and the ATM is their first introduction to this currency.

It is a person who does not have a pre-existing relationship with anyone in the Bitcoin space.It is a person who does not currently have a wallet because they didn’t know they needed one – because they don’t know what a wallet is (it’s a keychain).And so they walk up to this machine, and this machine has been designed by engineers to simulate the experience of an ATM, even though the experience shares absolutely nothing with the use case we’re putting it to.So you walk up and the ATM tries to give you bitcoin in as few clicks as possible with a minimum amount of interaction.Is that a way to build brand loyalty?Is that a way to build user experience?Is that a way to introduce new users?I mean, it just throws it at you, and you’re not ready for that.But, ‘Please open your phone and display your QR code.’ Like, what?What’s a QR code?” In an effort to solidify the point that Bitcoin ATMs should not be operating in the same manner as traditional bank ATMs, Antonopoulos then went through a long list of questions that a user would likely have while attempting to use a Bitcoin ATM for the first time.

The Right Model for a Bitcoin ATM After describing the problems with currently available Bitcoin ATMs, Antonopoulos explained how he would design such a device: “If I was designing a Bitcoin ATM, first of all, I’d put it in bodegas.Secondly, it wouldn’t have a lick of English on it.It’d be all-Spanish because I’m going to really push the remittance model.battle for bitcoin will it surviveThirdly, the first function on the ATM would be ‘Send money to Mexico City.’ That’s it.cach mua tien ao bitcoinBecause I want people to use the bitcoin for something.ethereum london[Fourthly], I’d have a big button on the front that says ‘Talk to a human.’ I’ve got an Internet-connected device with a forward-facing camera and a tablet screen, and I’m not using it to do video customer service?bitcoin wallet apple app

Are you kidding me?” It’s clear that the device Andreas Antonopoulos is imagining is completely different from a traditional ATM.In addition to the focus on international remittances, Antonopoulos also expanded on the idea that the Bitcoin device needs to teach the user about the peer-to-peer digital cash system: “I don’t want to interact for fifteen seconds.bitcoin jpy チャートI want to interact for two hours . . . And it tells me where I can spend [bitcoin].silent bitcoin miner fudIt gives me suggestions on wallets, and it can send them directly to my phone.It’s building loyalty, brand and experience.That’s not a 15-second interaction.” This is a perfect example of how sometimes simply applying the old ways of doing things to Bitcoin will not work.The most impactful innovations in the Bitcoin space have been the ones that created something completely new rather than thinking about how things worked in the past.

Developers and entrepreneurs should try to avoid simply replacing the carriage with an automobile.It’s time to get rid of the horse.If you've watched our video from today, you've caught a glimpse of the saga that was our attempt to buy and then subsequently sell a Bitcoin at SXSW.In retrospect, it wasn't a very bright idea.But we were curious, not only of the prospect of using cyptocurrency as a fungible good for making purchases, but also of the promised ability to turn Bitcoin into real cash dollars.Both of those goals were theoretically possible in that week in Austin, which had hosted a recent Texas Bitcoin Conference--spurring several local businesses (read: food trucks) to start accepting Bitcoin as a novel marketing tactic.Austin was also home to one of the first Bitcoin ATM operators in the nation, with no fewer than three places in the city to make automated in-person transactions.Yes, here was a machine that promised not only to slurp up your dollars to transfer fractions of Bitcoin to your digital wallet, but also let you cash out of virtual currency for Uncle Sam-backed bills.Oh, if only it was that easy.Something we didn't really explain in the video (because we frankly still don't completely understand it ourselves) is how the Bitcoin ATM system worked.

The ATMs are built by a company called Robocoin, a Las Vegas-based started founded by two brothers who were previously making Bitcoin-for-cash transactions locally, in person.According to a Wired report, Mark and John Russell, wanted to find a way to automate the process using a machine, while still working within the still-evolving regulatory guidelines set by US government for Bitcoin transactions.Naturally, they teamed up with a Nevada slot machine maker to start making prototypes.Honestly, the warning signs were all there.Because of those tricky (and still muddy) regulatory requirements, Robocoin doesn't actually run its kiosks.They just make them and sell them to operators for $20,000 a pop.Their first customers set up shop in Canada, where Bitcoin trading regulations are more lax--the machine doesn't need identification verification to take or dispense cash.Austin-based Bitcoin Agents was the first operator to install Robocoin machines in the states (a Hacker Dojo in Mountain View wasn't far behind), putting machines in three locations timed to open with the Texas Bitcoin Conference and SXSW.

Handlebar was where we ended up buying our Bitcoin, and where I spent the next few days hanging out to try to get it give our money back.I still have that .97 Bitcoin in my digital wallet.Buying the Bitcoin from the Robocoin ATM was at least a straightforward process.It happened like you saw in the video--I had to create an account with the Bitcoin Agents through the Robocoin machine, giving it my telephone number (for SMS verification), creating a PIN, scanning my palm, letting it take my photo, and then also scan a copy of my driver's license.That's a whole lot of personal information, which in retrospect was pretty stupid of me.Bitcoin Agents holds on to that identification data to comply with government anti-money laundering laws, but there's no promise that they can't be hacked or won't use that information for suspect ventures in the future.Anecdotally, my identity hasn't be stolen yet, but I have received on average one strange telemarketing call a week since signing up for Robocoin--the first of which was from an adult chat service just hours after giving the Robocoin machine my phone number.There's also the matter of the transaction fee, which for one Bitcoin (~$617 at time of purchase) was $38, or over 6%.

Robocoin operators make money from these fees, which they charge for both buying and selling of Bitcoins.These fees are just one of the sources of controversy regarding Bitcoin ATMs; in Vancouver, the Robocoin operator had to hire a part-time chaperone to watch over the kiosk and prevent other traders from intercepting customers with the promise of lower-cost or free transactions.The biggest hassle was in trying to get our money out from the Robocoin machine, selling the Bitcoin back to Bitcoin Agents.The process here was incredibly convoluted and opaque.After logging back into the machine with my phone number, PIN, and palmprint, the kiosk spit out a receipt with a QR code representing the wallet address of Bitcoin Agents.The idea was that I would use my wallet to send the Bitcoin value to the operator, with the promise that after receipt, the machine would dispense the equivalent in cash--minus the transaction fee.My mistake was in not paying a "miner's fee" after sending the Bitcoin to the operator.

This was a step that wasn't made clear in the selling process, neither by the Robocoin machine or my Blockchain app.The way I understand it now, transactions have to be confirmed by the Bitcoin network, with the data of that transaction being attached to new blocks of data that's generated by the mining process.The data blocks keep a permanent record of all the transactions taking place in the network, but miners don't have to include your transactions in newly mined blocks.That's why the miner fee exists--it's a small fraction of a Bitcoin to incentivize miners to attach your transaction to their blockchains and therefore validate it.Merchants and operators typically require the arbitrary number of six confirmations before considering the transaction legit.And the typical transaction fee--0.0001 BTC--was not made clear when I sent the Bitcoin to Bitcoin Agents.So instead of the transaction being confirmed in the 15-minute average it usually takes, our Bitcoin was lost in limbo for over a day.