Tembusu Terminals Pte set up what
may be Singapore’s first automated tele-exchange machine for
buying Bitcoins days after a Tokyo exchange for the virtual
currency was shut amid concerns about possible theft.
The ATM was installed at The Spiffy Dapper, a bar in the
Boat Quay district, according to a statement from Tembusu, which
is based in the city-state. The company is talking with other
retailers that accept the virtual currency to set up its ATMs on
their premises, it said, without naming them.
The announcement comes six days after Singapore’s finance
minister said the central bank didn’t recognize Bitcoin as legal
tender and had cautioned individuals about the use of virtual
currencies. Bitcoins have come under scrutiny in markets from
China to Russia and the U.S., with some regulators seeking to
ban or limit the use of the currency.
“I am sure all of us would agree that it has been an
exciting, and some would even say trying, past few weeks for
Bitcoin users worldwide,” Andras Kristof, 44, Tembusu’s chief
technical officer, said in today’s statement. “Through this
entire roller-coaster ride, I can’t help but think back to the
main guiding principle” of flexibility that the Tembusu
terminal provides, he said.
Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest exchange for digital-currency transactions, went offline in Tokyo on Feb. 25 after
halting customers’ Bitcoin withdrawals on Feb. 7. A document
posted on the Internet said Mt. Gox had lost 744,408 Bitcoins,
worth about $420 million at current rates, as a result of theft
that “went unnoticed for several years.”
The Singapore terminal could also possibly offer cash
dispensing, features such as identity and thumb-print scanning,
and anti-money laundering capabilities as required by local
regulators, according to the statement.
‘Be Cautious’
There are no Bitcoin ATMs in the city, “as far as” the
Association of Banks in Singapore was aware, John Lim, an
external spokesman for the organization, wrote in an e-mail.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore does not regulate
Bitcoins and has “been advising individuals and businesses to
think twice and be cautious about accepting or dealing in
virtual currencies,” Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam,
who is also chairman of MAS, said in Parliament on Feb. 21.
Tembusu’s ATM will be joined tomorrow by ANX, a Hong Kong-based platform for trading virtual currencies, which will open
the first retail store in that city that allows individuals to
buy and sell Bitcoins in Hong Kong dollars.
Introduced in 2008 by a programmer or group of programmers
under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is based on a peer-to-peer software protocol, has no central issuing authority, and
uses a public ledger to verify transactions while preserving
users’ anonymity.
Bitcoin fell 1.9 percent to $566 as of 3:38 p.m. Singapore
time, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, which
averages exchange prices. The value climbed as high as $1,151 on
Dec. 4, luring investors and customers even as regulators and
lawmakers raised concern the currency could be used for money-laundering and fraud.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Sanat Vallikappen in Singapore at
vallikappen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chitra Somayaji at
csomayaji@bloomberg.net
Bitcoin ATM Opens in Singapore Amid Probe Into Tokyo"s Mt. Gox
0 comments:
Post a Comment