Bitcoin virtual currency just got easier to trade in Canada, as long as you are comfortable with a biometric scanner. You can trade bitcoins on an ATM type machine, however you must identify yourself with a palm scan first. The article below from RT (Russia Today) states that the transaction is anonymous, but you must identify yourself first. Does this seem like an oxymoron to anyone else?
Cash-for-bitcoins: World’s first palm scan-activated bitcoin ATM to open in Canada
The world’s first bitcoin ATM will
open in Vancouver, Canada, next week – dispensing Canadian dollars
in exchange for the anonymous crypto-currency. But only if your palm
scan matches the ATM’s records, that is.
The machine will be set up near
downtown Vancouver coffee house Waves, is one of five ATMs bought by
Canadian firm Bitcoiniacs from Nevada-based producer Robocoin.
The machine will exchange bitcoins for
Canadian dollars via Canada’s VirtEx exchange. The transactions
themselves will be anonymous, the vendor says, but clients will have
to identify themselves via a palm scanner first.
This is done to enforce Canadian
anti-money laundering laws, due to which the ATM will only allow
transactions of up to 3,000 Canadian dollars (around $2,700) per day
per customer.
The four other ATMs will be rolled out
in Canadian cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Ottawa in
December, the company says.
"Basically, it just makes it
easier for people to buy and sell bitcoins," Mitchell Demeter,
founder of Bitcoiniacs and co-owner of Robocoin, told CBC.
