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Bengaluru: 1st cryptocurrency ATM to go live on Monday

Last Updated 19 October 2018, 16:00 IST

ndia’s first cryptocurrency Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is set to go live in Bengaluru on Monday as the company behind it successfully completed trials on Thursday afternoon.

The ATM, set up by cryptocurrency startup Unocoin, calls for a minimum amount for deposit and withdrawal of at least Rs 1,000 and must be in multiples of Rs 500. The ATM is located at the Kemp Fort Mall.

“We have completed our trials on Thursday afternoon. We have completed all the procedures. It will go live on Monday morning,” said Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO and Founder, Unocoin.

He said the company is hopeful of getting at least 50 transactions on the first day of going live.

The company has made adjustments to a normal bank ATM to equip it for cryptocurrency transactions. “We have purchased the same ATM machine that banks will install for customers, but we have modified the software to contact our servers,” Vishwanath said.

The ATM machine will be using user ID and mobile number instead of cards and instead of a pin code, there will be a one-time password (OTP) that is generated.

In order to deposit money into the ATM, KYC compliant customers have to enter their user ID and the OTP that they receive as an SMS on their registered mobile number. The user will then confirm his account details and deposit the funds into the machine. Their Unocoin account will be updated with the deposited funds immediately. And these funds can be used to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum, or on Unodax to place BID orders on 30 different crypto assets.

The company remains hopeful despite an RBI crackdown on cryptocurrency. Vishwanath said: “According to us, the RBI is trying to clamp down on their own entities like banks because of the risks associated that they have mentioned before – volatility, security and legality. But they haven’t declared the crypto assets as illegal. So, now that the banks are no more there, it's pretty much like other countries now. And transactions will happen peer to peer or through ATM machines.”

Due to the RBI’s recent notification on ‘Prohibition on Dealing in Virtual Currencies’, Unocoin’s banking relationships were disrupted. Since then, the company has been in the process of deploying new mechanisms for rupee deposits and withdrawals. The company is also planning two more such ATMs in Mumbai and Delhi.

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(Published 19 October 2018, 05:50 IST)

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